Stormy, stormy night!

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Now my Dad had persuaded me to do the trip which included the 7 nights on a boat. "We will see much more of the islands and wildlife", "it won't be rough seas at this time of year", "your brother survived and he would have told us if it was really rocky". All these phrases were running through my head as I was gripping the sides of my bed, hanging on for dear life and praying the 4-5 hour roller coaster which I don't remember agreeing to ride, would end. Sick is not the word. Dying was more like it. I thought it was never going to end. I was definitely not born to be a sailor and Rafael's comforting words of "it can get much worse" and " this is the windy season" did not help my state of mind in the morning and my wondering how I could get off the boat and check myself into a hotel. Surely I could just meet my Dad at the end of the week? The rest of the group kept telling me it would get better and I would find my sea legs but I had my doubts. I wasn't the only one who was ill which made me feel slightly less inadequate.

Sea sickness aside I couldn't wait to get to land and Espanola was a lovely island to explore. It was very hot today and we enjoyed seeing sea lions and iguanas (both land and marine) as well as the waved albatross who come to this island to breed. There were thousands of pairs sitting on their eggs (there can be up to 18, 500) and it was wonderful to see. Other birds we saw included the hood mockingbird, Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos Dove, red billed tropic bird, Nazca Boobie, blue-footed boobie, large cactus finch wabler finch, swallow tailed gulls, herons, brown noddies, yellow crusted night heron to name but a few! In the afternoon after lunch on the boat, we popped out again to share the beach with sea lions and enjoy a much need swim in the ocean to cool off.

Will write more tomorrow if I survive the night!

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