We got a 9:30 flight from Quito to Baltra airport in the Galapagos.  We arrived about noon and took a short bus ride to a ferry for a 5 minute ride to the main island.  It was a little worrisome to watch the porters put our luggage on the roof of the passenger ferry.  There is little in the way of railing on top so I guess you hope for gentle seas.  From the ferry we got an other bus that took us to the dock where we could see our boat, the Tiptop III, in the harbor.  We had our first sighting of a variety of birds and of the very colorful Sally Lightfoot crabs.  We took zodiacs to the boat and disembarked in a slightly wavy sea.  We lost the coin toss for the only available top deck cabin so we got a lower deck cabin.  The cabin itself was fine; we had two beds both at lower level, enough storage to be able to unpack and stow the big duffle in the closet, and bathroom with a rather large shower.  The one negative in the cabin was the fact that the windows were very small and very high in the wall.  You had to stand tiptoe or kneel on the bed to see anything beside just daylight.

After a brief orientation and a quick sandwich and juice we went ashore in the inflated small boats (zodiacs).  In this case life jackets are required for everyone.  We visited the Charles Darwin Center and got to see giant tortoises up close including the legendary Lonesome George.  We learned about the research center and got to see a sort of turtle nursery where they hatch eggs they gather from the wild and keep the young until they are three years old.  If they release them younger than that many of them will be eaten by rats.  Since this is an active research center tourists are restricted to established pathways and must be accompanied by a certified naturalist.  It was a fascinating place and we have some great photos.

We went back to the boat in late afternoon.  We had a debriefing session with our guide at 6:30 followed by a welcome on board drink. Dinner was at 7:15.  We got to our rooms by 8:45 and read for a while before going to sleep.  The boat is to cruise during the night to the next island we are to visit.  When the boat did pull anchor start to move we noticed two things- pretty loud engine noise and significant rocking of the boat.  Now I understand why the door to the room and the door to the bathroom have hook and eye closures attached on the backs of the doors.