The kids were very excited flying over the islands trying to spot them; they've handled the flights really well, especially since the longest one they'd ever had previously has been an hour and a half!

Landing in the Galapagos, we certainly felt a bit out of place wearing raincoats, jumpers, long trousers and walking boots! It was hot, sunny and 30 degrees!

The airport is as you might expect, quite primitive. But it's a busy one, handling quite a few landings every day.There are 25000 people on the Galapagos, which came as a surprise to me, I thought the population was purely botanical and 4 legged/finned

We took the bus to the boat dock, just a few minutes' drive - well after all the runway is most of the length of the island, which gives you an idea of scale. The boat dock was overrun - with sea lions ! They were on the seats inside the jetty, under the jetty and all around - our first of many experiences of the abundance of life in these amazing islands

The Zodiac launches carry about 12 people and are used to ferry us between the ship - the Galapagos Legend - and shore, where we either have a wet landing or a dry one, which pretty much determines the footwear choice! We embarked on the Legend, found our way to our cabins - numbers one and three and the largest on the whole ship - no wonder it cost us so much - but then with the kids and our ability to spread everything we have across any given horizontal surface - probably the best choice.

The Galapagos Legend is a big white boatwell what do I know, I've never been on a cruise - but our cabins have huge windows where I was expecting portholes, and there seem to be lots of floors with different things on them - but it all seems well organised. Having your allotted table and dining companions came as a bit of a surprise!

We sat down to lunch - we're still a bit out of sorts when it comes to mealtimes (but don't worry the next 7 days will ensure we're totally regimented for everything!) then we had a little time to chill out and wander around. Finn immediately identified (courtesy of David Attenborough and many early morning DVDs) frigate birds following us and perched on the funnel.

After lunch we had a briefing where we learnt we'd get 15 minutes warning for each excursion, meal and other activities - 15 minutes!!!! What chance do we stand? It takes us that long to get everyone's teeth brushed. And even then we've usually missed someone!

We sorted out our snorkel gear then with the promised 15 minutes we were off on our first of the twice daily hikes and snorkels. Writing this on the third day we understand the routine better now and surprisingly how this can become a trifle tedious, even in the most naturalistically amazing place on the planet - I guess it's where routinised cruise meets spontaneous adventure.

The first excursion (how that 15 minutes flew by; swimwear, footwear, sunblock, insect repellent, shades, hats, bags, cameras, water, kids, what to wear, yikes !) was to Bartholemew island. On the way we saw a Penguin, pelicans (to add to the ones flying by the ship, Jumping rays.

First stop was a snorkel off the lava beach - gritty sand which while soft gets everywhere! Everyone went out, although not an unmitigated success - the children struggled, being unfamiliar. In the end Derry and Finn came along but achieved their experience by holding their breath!!! Siena was more successful, but didn't like the big fish up close- our cautious one!

What we did see was enormous schools and rich variety of sizes, shapes and colours of fish, starfish, eel sea lions... amazing, exactly what you see on the TV, and a spectacular array of marine wildlife! We also got bitten by bugs - bigtime!

We took a hike up to the top of the island up 350+ steps, learning about the islands volcanic history, seeing small lava lizards on the way, then we spotted a whale spurting water into the air some way into the bay.

We caught the zodiac back to the boat in our 'Frigate (Frigatos) ' group, then had a little over 15 minutes preparation beforewarning sleeping Derry eating pizza Finn and Derry put themselves to bed while we finished dinner, then seeing sea lions, turtles alongside boat.