Team Australia woke at dawn and quickly made their way to the agency shopfront where they were to be picked up.  After driving around Puerto Ayora collecting other passengers, the bus headed to the Itabaca canal across the island of Santa Cruz.

Along with teams from Italy, America, Argentina, Spain, Team Australia was deposited at the docks and soon shuttled quickly to a waiting 49 foot motorboat.  There they ate breakfast and watched the blue footed boobies dive bomb fish.

The crew of the boat attempted to start the engine, but were unable.  After 15 minutes of trying, they gave up and called the mechanics.  They would have to come from Puerto Ayora, which meant there would be an hour long wait.  Team Australia remained in good humour and chatted with the other passengers while they watched the blue footed boobies do their dive bomb thing.

After an hour, two mechanics with spanners arrived at the boat.  They opened the engine casing up and started it.  Instantly the engine roared to life.  With their work completed, the mechanics departed and the boat motored off to the island of Bartholme.  The boat then motored slowly out of the harbour.

Mechanics fix the boat

Eventually the boat arrived at spectacularly unique Bartholme Island.  The first challenge was to climb to the summit of Bartholme for a fantastic view of Pinnacle Rock.  Due to the earlier engine trouble, Simon and Ang commenced this climb just before midday.  Trying to stay cool and race was difficult for the team, but luckily they had Ang’s trusty umbrella to shade them on the bare slopes.  The hot climb was completed by Simon and Ang in record time, with breaks required only to listen to the novice guide talk about various aspects of the local environment.

Racing to Pinnacle Rock

Simon completes the lift a large rock with one mighty arm challenge	Ang completes this challenge easier

Panorama of the Pinnacle Rock area

Racing back down from the summit, the team got their snorkelling gear on and swam straight off the beach around the huge Pinnacle Rock.  This snorkelling challenge required only one team member and due to the potentially sharky nature of this task, Simon nominated himself.  There were two tasks that needed to be completed before the next clue would be provided.

Fish!	Pinnacle rock from up close

More undersea life

The first task was to swim around to the other side of the rock and witness some hilarious sea lion behaviour.  As Simon was the only snorkeler equipped with fins, he rapidly completed this task and witnessed a sea lion chase a white tip reef shark just for fun.  Simon said later “I was looking up out of the water at the big rock.  I put my head underwater and saw a sea lion swim towards me, like several had before.  This sea lion seemed to be a bit cheekier than the others before.  I followed him as he swam across my path and straight after the shark.  They swam in circles for a bit then off into the distance.  It was hilarious for everyone, except the shark”.  With this task complete, Simon joined the other snorkelers and swam back around Pinnacle Rock and across the small bay.

Across the bay they swam up to four penguins sunning themselves on a rock.  Two penguins decided that now that they had an audience they would start going at it like rabbits.   Simon captured this special moment in nature and then swam back to the beach.  There the team received their next clue and would now be required to make their way to the Island of Floreana.

Galapagos penguins

Returning to the motor yacht, the team sailed back to the Itabaca canal at Santa Cruz and then took the bus back to Puerto Ayora town for dinner and later to bed.