Our flight to the Galapagos was delayed by a few hours and we landed on Baltra in the early afternoon. Our naturalist guide, Williams, met us at the airport and bundled us to the Monserrat II and our 8 day trip began. We met our fellow members of the Monserrat II and everyone was really nice. The itinerary for this section of the trip was:

• Day 1: Baltra - airport, Santa Cruz - Black Turtle Cove
• Day 2: Genovesa - Prince Philip's Steps and Darwin Bay

We had time to only visit Black Turtle Cove on the first day, where we saw turtles and sharks underwater from the rubber dinghies. Genovesa was devoid of other boats when we arrived, and it was our first encounter with birds that did not fly away when we got close. Red-footed boobies (which we didn't see anywhere else) perched on the railings on the Monserrat's top deck and looked at us curiously when we got close. There was a short dinghy ride to see the birds and fur seals along the lava cliffs before landing at Prince Philip's Steps. Prince Philip's Steps was full of Nazca and Red-footed boobies, some guarding their chicks or eggs; we also saw juvenile frigatebirds learning to fly. There was a curious marine iguana that followed us for a good part of our time on Prince Philip's Steps --- we could tell that it was the same iguana because its tail had been bitten at the end. Sea lions swam out to greet the dinghies when we landed at Darwin Bay. We also snorkeled at Darwin Bay, which was a little murky, but we got to see black-tip reef sharks, some rays, and a few sea lions dived into the water to swim with us. The wetsuits, which we purchased the week before the trip, turned out to be an excellent idea --- the water was cold enough that most people without wetsuits did not stay in the water for long.