My last blog update seems a long time ago, but it did after all come from a different hemisphere. Since then we have spent 10 fascinating days in the Galapagos. One week in Santa Cruz, and then three nights in Isobela, the largest, yet least developed of the islands.

We met up on target for the Stafford-Allens, Gus, Tilly and Sam, or maybe a day late, Sam and Tilly were pretty pleased about that, as they were swapping the luxury of the Finch Bay Hotel in Port Ayora for 7 of us squeezed into Brother Wind!�

Our time in the Galapagos was busy. You are not permitted to go off visiting the islands in ones own boat, which is a pity, so the places you can get to in a day are the best one is going to do. However, we felt we have seen enough to keep us very happy.

One of our concerns was the dire warnings in all the books about not doing crew changes here, but we realised immediately that the alleged formalities are not nearly as tough as in some other places, in fact we cleared in and out here faster with less form filling than anywhere we've been to! As for crew changes, we just didn't bring it to their attention, and all was well!

So having dealt with the boring stuff we found ourselves organised into a trip on Santa Cruz island to visit giant tortoises, and lava flow tunnels. Our excitement at seeing these huge and extraordinary creatures in the wild was only surpassed by finding a couple of mating tortoises as well, totally oblivious to their onlookers!

Then on we went to find extraordinary underground tunnels formed by lava flowing just below the surface of the ground. They were huge cavernous places, almost sculpted from the rock with an array of colours caused by the varied temperatures of the flowing lava. We walked along this tunnel for several hundred yards, scrambling past colossal land slips of huge boulders, and scrutinised the possibilities of more pending, until we had to get down on all fours to scramble on damp mud under the rock to our exit. Then on to see the pair of extinct volcanoes which had formed the lava tubes.

This seemed a good beginning to our time in Santa Cruz, so we put ourselves in the hands of Johnny Romero, the 'Mr. fix-it' for the yachts, and signed up to two more expeditions to other islands.
We had by this time befriended another English boat, 'Chiquita' and Ding and James, who supplied me with more software of the world, which this time Ding managed to get to talk to my GPS. What a coup!

With them we went on an all day trip to Bartholome Island, an hour in a bus along the only road, and a two hour boat ride. Poor Giles, whose back had pinged out the day before, could barely move when he got off the bone shaker of a bus. However, help was at hand, as a tiny dapper man in dazzling whites stepped forward, and offered his services as an acupuncturist. Giles was laid out on a large table at the bar where we were waiting for the boat, and was instantly assaulted with injections along his spine! It certainly provided him with some relief, and throughout the day this delightful Ecuadorian would rush forward and pop a few drops into Giles's mouth!�

The island of Bartholome was stunning. Where Santa Cruz is lush and green this was volcanic and barren, the landscape was far more akin to my expectations of Galapagos, with an almost lunar landscape. We snorkelled around the dramatic pinnacle rock, climbed the volcano, swam with and admired penguins as well as tropical fish that seemed far huger than elsewhere, and watched the blue footed boobies and pelicans dive around us.

Our other long day out was to south Plaza Island, where sea lions thrive, unlike the seals at home at Blakeney Point, these ones are totally fearless of you, and one stands amongst them watching their antics. The island is also the home to masses of land and sea iguanas, which are probably the strangest of all the animals we encountered in the Galapagos. They are like scaled down dragons, totally prehistoric looking. Gus was also rewarded here with a wonderful view of the Tropic bird he had so wanted to see, a white long-tailed bird of great elegance. While snorkelling we were rewarded by seeing� large white-tipped reef shark, we had seen smaller ones from our mooring in Puerto Ayora, and again a mass of large tropical fish. We had a morning at the Darwin Centre, and managed to meet the director. Rowland dreams of going as a volunteer there, so who knows.

We went on a trip out in Brother Wind to see if the Stafford-Allens had a better knack than us at catching fish, and were rewarded with two 10lb yellow fin tuna, both credited to Tilly! Luck or what, they were caught using an identical lure to one that we had towed across from Panama, and lost! Our lack of vigilance to our lines is probably the key to it, as the line had stretched, so we had probably caught a tuna which then fed a shark!

Tim and Rowland caught flights home on Sunday, and Sam and Tilly went the next day, as did Chiquita, so we were feeling somewhat bereft, but Blythe Spirit turned up with our Aussie line handler friends on board so a meal out with them was fun to catch up.

Gus woke me horribly early the next day, for a trip to the market, which was remarkably successful for fruit, but not many veg. so we came back with 6 pineapples, melon, paw-paw, a huge bunch of bananas and much more, which are now strung up under the solar panels and bimini, where things keep best in the air. We still have tomatoes, onions and oranges from Panama.

We left Puerto Ayora much too late, and in spite of cracking on with the engine, arrived in the dark at Puerto Villamil, but managed to find our way in by the full moon, much commented on by other yachts next day, not with admiration I might say but with looks of� condescension at� our poor planning!!

We were delighted to meet up with Chiquita again, and Invictor's Reward who we hadn't seen since Panama. A trip ashore to refill our cans of diesel revealed a town built on solid black lava, but amongst the many unfinished building projects were some surprisingly affluent houses. Giles managed to find Theresa who came aboard to massage his back with some success, she is a Canadian who is trying to get citizenship on Isabela, and joined us and Ding and James for a meal ashore.

Next day we went in search of horses to take us up the volcano, but failed, so settled for a taxi and a long walk. Our guide set us a fair pace, and we rushed up the volcano Sierra Negra, allegedly the second largest crater in the world. Luckily the air was much cooler up there, so the heat of the day was not so harsh.
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It was well worth the effort, the vast crater 7 kms across is filled with black larva, and smoke rises from several fumaroles, reminding one that it is still very active. The last eruption was in 2005, and a huge one before that in 1979. We walked along the edge of the crater then turned off to some dramatic outcrops of� larva rock, and looked down at a huge blackened valley of rock and cinders, mostly thrown out in the '79 eruption.

Our four hour walk was well worth it, particularly with the prospect of three weeks at sea, we feel well exercised. Back to the coast and a short recovery with cool shade and cooler beer, we went to visit the island of Tintoreras, which formed a breakwater sheltering the anchorage at Puerto Villamil.

This was a lovely farewell to the Galapagos, the spiky black larva island was crawling with marine iguanas in great families, sea lions played and slept on the white sandy beach, and we looked down on an inlet stiff with white tipped reef sharks. Meanwhile penguins swam around the boats, blue boobies dive bombed in the water close by, and the pelicans never failed to amuse us with their extraordinary antics.

Our final farewell was a barbecue ashore for nine of us. Ding and James from Chiquita, Peter and Lynda from Dutch Touch, and the Turkish boat Yol. The evening was rounded off with some fearsome lime and firewater drinks, and we were highly relieved to have a water taxi to take us through the rocks back to our boats!

Next morning we woke early with an enormous start, as our anchor windlass sprang into action unbidden! Giles and I rushed on deck to see the anchor chain being wound in all by itself. Brother Wind was obviously longing for the next voyage, but how on earth?
We turned the windlass off, and made final preparations to leave, still none the wiser. Only as we finally turned the windlass on again, and again it sprang into life did we realise what had happened, Giles had taken the wheel off the day before, and inadvertently put it back on the wrong way round, which meant that when it spun it hit the windlass control on the binnacle. How lucky we were that it hadn't happened while we were happily enjoying the barbecue the night before!

It was time to go, and at 09.30 we finally said goodbye to the Galapagos, and headed off. This leg to the Marquesas of 3,000 miles will be the longest of our circumnavigation.