We woke up in a bay on Genovesa, also known as Tower. The bay (Darwin Bay) is, in fact, an old caldera. Binoculars and scope before breakfast as there. were birds nesting on the cliffs. After breakfast we were issued with our wetsuits and snorkelling equipment and given brief instructions. we were a bit unsure about this activity and confessed to being novices and not strong swimmers. But we were encouraged to join in.

We started with a wet landing on the beach and a short pre-snorkel walk (short distance but slow walking). We saw nesting red-footed boobies Nazca boobies and frigate birds, none of whom were at all bothered by our presence. Also around on the beach were swallow-tailed gulls, lava gulls, mockingbirds, ruddy turnstones, Galapagos doves and at least two types of finch (Galapagos ground finch and cactus finch apparently). And flying high above were the splendid red-billed tropic birds who have long narrow tails.

It was then time for our first attempt at snorkelling. Pepe took the two of us out with a life belt (everybody else had done it before) and we began to see the fish, stingrays burying down in the sand, pirate fish and others. We finished by having a short go on our own.