More Galapagos

As I write there is a feeding frenzy near the boat.  Must be a school of small fish because the pelicans are diving with a big splash. The blue-footed boobies also dive vertically, but make a small thud as they disappear under water.  There are frigate birds wheeling around - they just hassle the other birds until they drop their catch.  There are three penguins heading for the melee, and only the sea lions are too lazy at this time of day to do anything but raise their heads from their rocky resting places.
  Yesterday we took a panga trip down the coast to an area of collapsed lava tunnels which has made a sheltered area of deep channels of water with lava arches and bridges.  The pilots are masters of the art as the entrance is through rocks with surf and surge and to be done safely has to be done at high speed.  Then they carefully steered through some of the channels and we saw lots of turtles, eagle rays, and small sharks.  We swam with them later which was fun.  Very chilly water, no wonder the penguins live happily around here.
  The day before we had been for a long bike ride along the sandy coast road.  Stopped at little beaches and watched the marine iguanas sunning themselves and blowing out salt spray - particularly if you get close.  Quite a lot of new turtle tracks, some crossing the road to the soft sand at the other side.   After a couple of miles we were off the sand and onto a black powdered lava track - a bit like carborundum powder, we felt it grinding away at all the moving parts of our bikes.  There was a spectacular lava tunnel on one beach, large enough to walk into at one end, and running several hundred yards into the sea. 
  We are planning to set off on the big trip on Friday - our passports have been promised for this afternoon.....Today we've been trying to get the wind vane steering ready to go - it will be the ideal passage to use it as the wind, once we get into the trades, is pretty constant.  It uses no power, and is more or less silent.  Never having really used it before though, we have had to pour over the instruction book.  There is no wind at all around here at the moment, and by all accounts we have to get to at least six degrees south to pick up the hoped for 15 kts.  There should be current in our favour though, so there may be a few days of drifting along before we really start to cover the miles.