Lo and behold! Who should show up the next morning but Andrea, sheepishly standing at our doorstep with a another Galápagos guide. We were getting ready for a day at Tortuga Bay when this woman, who had previously only existed in mythical form, was there in front of us. Solid flesh and bone bearing a nervous smile. I've no idea why she didn't show until the last day - bereavement, drug addiction, bloody lazy - but there she was offering us a trip for the day... to Tortuga Bay. Too little, too late. After negotiating a free night in our hotel, we gave her her marching orders and the mysterious Andrea vanished once more into the ether. 
Tortuga Bay proved to be as impressive as it had been before. We headed further along to a sheltered bay lined with mangrove trees. Here the snorkelling at first proved to be disappointing in the murky waters. However, swimming further out was rewarded with my first encounter with an eagle ray. I tried to remember whether it had been this type of fish that had killed the ebullient Steve Irwin. In my ignorance, I chose to return to shore whilst wondering whether Irwin had it coming after tormenting all those reptiles.
The afternoon was spent at las Grietas (the Cracks). An old lava tunnel which ran all the way to the sea, the roof of which had long collapsed. The remaining fissure housed some of the deepest, crystal clear water on the island. Shoals of huge fish plucked algae from the walls of the 12m deep chasm whilst locals jumped and dived from the rocks 12m above the brackish waters. Blue Lagoon eat your heart out. The following day we flew back to mainland Ecuador. On our way we popped in for a stroll around Los Gemelos, extinct volcanic craters over 200m wide each housing their own personal ecosystems. The Galápagos Islands had truly lived up to their reputation as a biologist's adventure playground.
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