So we`re back...we`ve just arrived in Quito, after the flight back from the Galapagos, and what a final few days we had! Wednesday seems likes a lifetime away now but that`s where I left it so that`s where I`ll start. We started Wednesday near Puerto Ayora (Santa Cruz) with a dive at Loberia, although the sea was rough we had a good dive and saw rays, turtles and sealions...still no sign of the elusive hammerhead though. On the way back onto the boat my mask got trapped between boat and dinghy and my mask shattered into a thousand pieces, glad it was a dive mask not a leg or even worse the camera case. We then headed to the Charles Darwin Research Centre which is effectively a breeding programme for giant tortoises. Each island has an endemic sub-species of tortoise, or should I say had, many of them have been wiped out through man`s exploitation of the area in the early 19th century. You see, tortoises can go for up to a year without water or food and thus make great meat for boats with long passages around the world as they don`t really go off. The really sad part is that of one sub-species, Pinta, there is only one tortoise left. `Lonesome George`is now 90 years old and reaching his prime for mating but has so far shown no interest in the 3 introduced females whose genetics are most similar to his. Despite our egging him on he didn`t get his shell over when we were there either.

After lunch we headed up into the highlands where we saw some wild ginat tortoises, although it seems a little funny describing them as wild as although they lived in the wild they don`t exactly tear around at Mach 3. We went backl tot he boat via a huge lava tube which has collapsed in the past bringing down stones the size of a cow. We didn`t hang about in there for fear of further collapses...

Back on the boat we met up with our new found colleagues, 5 Canadians (2 French Canucks, 3 living in America now). Brent and Lisa and father Gary all now live out of Canada (Brent in Hawaii), Gary is a dentist so he and Jen swapped (or should that be swabbed?) info. The two French Canadians, Chantal and Marie Jose were really nice too although neither spoke amazing English so we had to resort to French (again) at times.

Onto Day 5, Floreana Island, which is to the south of the archilpeligo. Our dive at Enderby Rock was excellent, we saw a number of Galapagos Sharks (like reef sharks but bigger), rays and some wonderful little pufferfish. After the dive we headed onto the island, past the resident sealions and to a lagoon where we saw about 30 flamingoes, the brightest and purest shade of pink you could imagine. We were also fortunate to see (via binoculars) a nest with 5 chicks that were an ugly grey colour. After walking to the other side of the island we entered a bay where we managed to get up close to mating turtles, and I got soaked trying to get a photo of the rays that washed themselves up into about an inch of water on the beach. 3 Penguins also flaoted by and it was a magical half hour or so. Next up was a snorkel at Champion Rock whilst most others dived Enderby again (we decided to stick to a dive a day). It was wonderful! We saw 14 cownose rays in formation near the surface but the best bit was snorkelling with the sealions. 2 youngsters and their mother spent at least 10 minutes swimming towards us and playing before it was time to head back tot he boat. Although on land they are clumsier than a dog with no back legs (which is incidentally what they look like when they walk) in land they are so quick and graceful. Our last stop for the day was at Post Office Bbay where a barrell stands in which letters and postcards are deposited. The idea is to look for people who live nar you and then take your post back with you. We left a couple of postcards and checked for people in NW of England of which there were...none...here`s hoping some Mancunian turns up there one day and brings ours back! We finished the afternoon by watching the two boats` crews palying football which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Day 6 (Friday) meant Espanola, which is one of the best islands to visit. We were up and out by 6.20 and had landed on a beach, near the obligatory sealiuons some five minutes later. Our 2km circuit walk took us high up onto the cliffs and through colonies of masked boobies, repleat with either eggs, week old chiocks or slightly older fledglings. With a number of the nests built next to or on the paths we got a great opportunity to see everything close up - it was fantastic. After the boobies we walked through the resident waved albatross colony and their chicks. We were lucky enough to view the famed albatross dance where they made loiud noises before dancing as a pair and touching beaks...magical! The final area on the island was at the `airport` where we viewed all the different bird species flying, landing, tkaing off etc...

Our dive for the day was next - Gardners reef, and what`s more we saw our first hammerhead, some 3m (10 ft) long, and about 10m away. It was a real thrill, and coupled with the manta rays, sealions and other fish made it another memorable dive. We finished the day with a long sail north, but only after we had snorkelled with sealions and rays again...

Day 7 - yesterday, Santa Fe

Up and out early again we walked through a giant cactus forest (with some specemin over 200 years old and with trunks so thick you couldn`t get your arms round) before spotting a number of pallidus land iguanas. They were all yellow and black so I`ve renamed them the Cambridge United Land Iguana and they are subsequently my favourite animal in the world, amost, but at that point we hadn`t dived Gordon Rocks...and so to the dive site. To give you a bit of history about this site we found out about it from t`internet and booke dour whole trip to the Galapagos because Nemo dived there. With this in mind the change of itinery made it fitting we should dive there for our final dive. It is famous for a few things, the swirling currents, sometimes bad visibility, but mostly for it`s hammerheads, lots of them, and big buggers too by all accounts. So with a real sense of anticipation we donned our gear and dived in. Well the vis was good (about 10-12m) and the currents although bloody cold (my computer went from 23-19 degrees at one point) weren`t too strong...as for the sharks...well we saw one really early one, and it was huge, we estimated at around 3.5-4m. It then decided to circle us, about 5-7m away...and then promptly diappeared into the blue. We managed to circumnaviage the three pinnacles despite the strengthening currents before 2 eagles rays were spotted and the group followed them en masse. That is, the group except myself and Jen who decided to hang around near the back of the rock and see what was out there...oh my God did we have a shock at what we saw next...at least 20 hammerheads, some seemingly in feeding frenzy less than 10m away. A couple decided to check us out and came within a few metres. Our reaction was a mixture of shock, sheer jubilation, and adrenaline (there are over 1,000 unprovoked attacks by hammerheads on humans every year) as we spent a couple of minutes watching them swim off into the distance. There has never been a hammerhead attack on a diver in the Galapagos Archipeligo, it is thought that the abundance of fish means that they don`t need to supplement their diet with neopreme coated humans.

Arriving back at the boat we felt it was a real case of mission accomplished. The only animal we wanted to see that we hadn`t (apart from the red footed boobies that you have to go Genovesa in the North to see) was the frigatebird, the ones with the magnificent red balloon that they inflate to impress the ladies...we were promised those for this morning. I then managed to smack my head on the boom of the boat nearly knoicking myself out and giving myself a stonking headache. I muttered something ironic about knocking the wind out of my sails...

Our final trip of the day was to South Plaza Island where we saw more sealions (still not tiring of them though, they are so adorable, especially the pups), gulls, more land iguanas, and tropicbirds who have a distinctive long white, wispy tail.

Our dock for the night was near Seymore Island where we were up at 6am this morning for our final walk. First up we walked through a colony of blue footed boobies (and yes I did buy an `I love Boobies` t-shirt, when in Rome and all that) and then we saw the magnificent frigates, replete with red balloon and wing posturing to attract the ladies. The balloon itself takes 20 minutes to inflate and 10 to deflate and we saw some in various stages of pumped-up-ness. More land iguanas, and the three cutest and most inquisitve sealions yet followed before we headed back to Nemo.

Since then we have flown back to Quito and are now in two minds as whether to leave South America on a real high and head to Spain for a couple of weeks ro whether top head south to Banos and Cotopaxi. We are favouring the former as we`ve just had one of the best weeks of our lives and want to remember Ecuador by the Islands some 1,000km to the West of the mainland. We will, undoubtedly be back. We would like to visit the more far flung places, and do some more diving. Our week was truely on of the best of our lives, and we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to see what we`ve seen and interact with nature in the best possible ways. We were both gutted to have to return to the mainland and arrive back in dreary old Quito.