A clear and calm morning as we awoke in front of Bartolome island, one of the younger islands with few inhabitants. A hike to the top to see the vistas and the famous pinnacle rock was exhilarating ( 400 steps to the top). We were able to see many of the islands on such a clear day, can't remember if it was 7 or 9 but it was a lot. The terrain was very barren with only a little vegetation, almost like the moon with lots of lava features.
We couldn't wait to snorkel as we had worked up a little sweat on the hike. The water was clear and cool and refreshing but alas no sharks, turtles, or penguins. The fish we saw were colorful and plentiful so it was certainly an enjoyable final plunge for our trip. A quick lunch and motor to Santa Cruz(again) for our panga ride through black turtle cove. 
We now know how lucky we were most of the week to have had overcast and even rainy afternoons. This afternoon was a high clear blue sky with the equatorial sun beating down on us for 90 minutes in our panga. We saw amazing sea turtles, some small and some huge; it was very cool. It took us a while to find them through the maze of mangrove trees that make up black turtle cove. They have roots hanging down like the banyan trees we have seen in Hawaii in order to get nutrients as the tide changes. The sea turtles were very graceful and it was nice to watch them in spite of the strong sun.
Back on board for some cold drinks before our BBQ seafood dinner on the top deck, which was excellent. We held our final briefing and retired to pack as we have a 6AM wakeup call and are expected off the boat with our luggage by 7:15 not our style but you do what you gotta do. It is hard to believe that it was only 1week ago when we arrived here; I feel like I have been here a month and can barely remember what we saw the first few days- good thing for my journal and hopefully the pictures will remind me, although I am afraid all the iguanas are going to look alike to me. 
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