One last excursion (a deep water snorkelfrom the zodiacs at 7.30am when everything was already packed seemed questionably sensible - but boy was it worth it)l. Proud to have all 5 of us on a 16 strong Zodiac - plus a handful of Gardners, we definitely had the upper hand though it didn't stop a couple of ultra competitive snorkelers (seemed to be about speed rather than quality!) from leading the way! Alan was told off for diving too deep to snap a shark (yes, with the camera!) but we saw some fantastic fish again. We all agreed snorkelling was good fun in warm clear water. Roll on scuba!

Back on board with fond farewells and email exchanges (Finn seemed to be chasing all the attractive girls on the ship for theirs) and we were ready to head off to the next adventure. We suffered our first major loss of the tour - inadvertently packing a penknife in the hand luggage,and the evident terrorist tendencies of Finn in his floppy Galapagos hat were too much for the authorities, and we had to lose it. One last chance for Derry to cuddle Daniel, the ships reception manager, and we were off. First class, dontcha know, row 4 on the plane - get us! No idea how that happened, and in actual fact it wasn't welcome, the trays were too far away and didn't slide closer to us !

We managed a quick goodbye to our new friends, the Gardners, whom we hope to see again(your place not ours, definitely!) and Pete from LA who Finn will definitely be looking up when we get there.

Quito awaited us, and we were escorted safely back to Hostal Santa Barbara where we decided to visit the Italian restaurant again - they seemed very happy to see us, although curiously most of the menu was unavailable - not sure quite what was going on there. Derry still managed to fall asleep mid meal, so our reputation is intact !

It's going to be interesting over the coming weeks, how we'll look back on the Galapagos cruise. The kids don't really want to leave, everything is so easy and relaxed, and some of the future adventures will be tougher, without the benefit of the routine, other people and friends to talk to. A wonderful experience that will live with us, and hopefully be one of the cornerstones of the whole adventure. And hopefully it will confirm that cruises are not quite for us! (except for Derry who intends to work on one!)