For somebody who get’s seasick, it was an ambitious task – taking photographs whilst sailing around an archipelago. In a quiet moment, I wept into my lifejacket.

But it was the Galápagos Islands and I’d wanted to go there since I was a little girl. Here’s why:

When you meet a giant tortoise, it’s very clear who’s in charge. As they plod down the path, you soon realise you’re in their way. If you accidentally get too close, they hiss at you. It takes you by surprise, especially when they’re hiding at the side of the road. This picture was taken on Santa Cruz. I was told that the females here walk 15km down to the sea to lay their eggs.

This tortoise on Isabela was one of many rescued by helicopter when the Cerro Azul volcano erupted in 1998. It’s housed at a local breeding centre. They’re trying to get the numbers back up and successfully bred 200 in the first couple of years. The new generation have gradually been released back into the wild. With their funny little dance and bright blue feet, you can understand why the blue-footed booby is a star attraction on the Galápagos. I spotted this one at Academy Bay. Conservationists here say the population has decreased by two thirds since the early ’90s. They believe it’s partly due to overfishing in Peruvian waters.

As you wouldn’t expect tortoises to give you the right of way, don’t expect sea lions to give up their seat for you either. Here at San Cristóbal I learned just how cheeky they can be. After finishing the vounteer project, I went down to La Lobearía for an early morning swim. Suddenly, a sea lion pup popped up next to me as if to ask, “What are you doing here?” He then started to roll around in the water. He did it a few times and I copied him. His Mum then appeared, which made me a little nervous, but we played for a short while and the two of them swam off.

They’re usually the first thing you see when you arrive at any of the islands – a wonderful welcome party. Sadly, the El Ninos in 1988 and 1998 have had a drastic affect on their numbers. Conservationists say about half the population was lost and has yet to recover.

The Galápagos penguin has also been affected by weather events. The species is endangered – there are now fewer than 2000 living on the islands. That matters, because they’re the only penguins who live north of the equator. I found these ones at Floreana. I was surprised by how small they were – about 49cm long.

Charles Darwin described marine iguanas as ‘hideous-looking creatures, of a dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in their movements’.

This little family at Santa Cruz certainly look quite sinister, don’t they! Their white faces look ghostly. At Las Tintoreras, they were overtaking me in the water. It seemed strange to see these reptiles swim.

I came across yellow land iguanas on a hike up to the Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela. Pink ones live in the northern part of the island, but the area is closed to travellers.

I love these Sally Lightfoot crabs. You can spot them out at sea because their red shells are so bright against the black rocks.

They crawl all over the marine iguanas, who don’t seem to mind.

I was so busy watching the wildlife, that I almost forgot about the beaches. This is Tortuga Bay, about an hour’s walk from the harbour at Santa Cruz. It was a great place to relax. There were more iguanas sunbathing, than people.

Getting from one island to the other is easy to do. There are plenty of tour companies around the harbours who sell tickets. Some of them offer last minute deals. The average price is about $100. Allow yourself time for the authorities to search and tag your bag – they need to check that nothing organic is transferred from one island to the other. Theoretically, once sealed, you can’t get anything out. If you do have to break in, make sure you keep your tag to show them at the other side. It’s best to put a rain cover over your bag, because it will get wet on board.

Once on the islands, you can find these white taxis everywhere and they’re inexpensive. The most I paid to get to a local hotel was $2.

I was very sad to leave the Galápagos. One day, there’ll be a tablet strong enough for me to enjoy the manta rays and dolphins out at sea, instead of quietly acknowledging them out of the corner of my eye!