The next stage of our journey was from the coast of Ecuador to the legendary Galapagos Islands with their extraordinary wildlife - as advertised by David Attenborough. The Galapagos Islands are the sort of place where a sea lion will swim up and lie on its back chewing a fish while curiously watching you have a deck shower, and the customers at the fish market are not necessarily human. Being in the Doldrums, the passage to the islands proved as frustrating as the one from Panama to Ecuador with light and variable winds, however patience and a favourable current and a miserly approach to burning expensive diesel allowed us to sail most of the way. When the current turned against us in the last 15 miles, we abandoned our principles and fired up the engine.

As part of the ship's routine on passage, we normally have a salt water deck shower in the afternoon when the day has cooled down. This is normally a pleasurable event, refreshing the crew prior to the afternoon cup of tea and freshly baked cake. However, there is a well known phenomenon on the west coast of South America called the Humboldt Current (closely related to the El Nino effect) which comes straight from the Antarctic Ocean. As a result, the water temperature close to the Equator in this area is about that off Scotland and afternoon showers produce shrieks of agony. Additionally, the night watches are often accompanied by drizzle, fog and heavy dew and the cockpit crew can be found clothed and huddled up like pensioners in a bus shelter on the winter Eastbourne sea front. Not what is expected on the Equator.

As a result of the battle between this current and the light and variable winds, we have now carried out nine Equator crossings and King Neptune is getting fed up with the sight of us. Additionally we have hand steered more in the last month due to the light winds than we have during the rest of our time on board over the last two years. Normally the Aries wind vane does the work as manual steering for days on end is much less interesting than watching paint dry, but 'Arry the Aries can't cope with less than 5 knots of wind.

During our approach to Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, we were met by a fleet of 40+ turtles flopping around in the sea, we have seen 3 other turtles in the course of 12,000 miles. This boded well for our visit. On anchoring in the harbour, we were greeted by dozens of stripey box fish who proceeded to give the hull the best clean it has had since Trinidad nine months ago. Our stay in Panama and Ecuador has resulted in a carpet of barnacles and growth below the water line, which was a bit of a worry for the future Pacific crossing as the loss of any speed would significantly lengthen our passage time to the Marquesas. However, these helpful fish had the bottom stripped clean in two days - bless them. This service is not available everywhere as generally, the locals have eaten most of the wildlife, however, in the Galapagos, there is a measure of protection.

The town of Puerto Ayora is very much built to service the visiting tourists - with more t-shirts shops than even Grand Cayman. You can buy anything with a tortoise or booby (bird) logo - books, mugs,t-shirts, hats, trousers, shorts, bookmarks, wallets, mouse mats, shoulder bags, jewelery... and of course all sizes of fluffy tortoises. It is quite fun to wander round the shops on the first day, but then you start looking for rather more dull items like a strip of aluminium, and you discover the limitations of the stores.

Yet again, one of the wonderful aspects of the cruising lifestyle is the meeting of old friends. We had a super reception on arrival in the bay - meeting up with our German friends and also our Dutch friends Hans and Dory on Happy Monster whom we had last seen in Cascais, Portugal in 2005. We have kept in touch over the past 18 months by email, but still have spent a long time catching up on each other's experiences. It is nice that the friendship has been able to be picked up as it was. It is also nice that all of our friends get on very well, so we have all been able to share taxis/tours/meals together during our stay.

The Ecuadorian government is keen to protect the unique environment around the islands and there had been many rumours about the nature of bureaucracy to be endured on entry. As is common, many of the rumours turned out to be false or a result of misunderstanding and third hand information. The Port Captain and Immigration officials could not have been more friendly and helpful and only relieved us of $170 for allowing us to stay for two weeks. We were fortunate as one is supposed to pay an additional $100/person for entering the National Parks. Conventional tourists are relieved of their cash at the airport on arrival but there does not seem to be a mechanism to collect it from cruisers who only visit one of the three main ports of entry.

Having completed the bureaucracy, we where now ready for the legendary wildlife. We started with a visit to the Darwin Research Centre who were attempting to undo the results of several centuries of depredations by visiting sailing ships. These ships used to visit the Galapagos Islands to stock up on fresh meat by taking dozens of the giant tortoises and laying them on their back in the holds where they would survive for long periods. The Research Centre had set up breeding programs for the more endangered species to restock the islands. We met 'Lonesome George', the 90+ year old sole remaining survivor of one species who has been offered several ladies from similar species but still won't do the business. Opinion is divided on whether he is gay or has just forgotten how after several decades.

This trip was followed the next day with a visit to nearby island, Isla Floreana (or Santa Maria - most of the islands have two names for historical reasons), on a tourist tripper boat. The local regulations do not allow visiting yachts to anchor outside the main harbours without a local guide and handing over very large sums of money. All to do with protecting the environment. During this visit, we were able to swim/snorkel with sea lions, a 5 metre juvenile whale shark (the largest fish species, adults can reach 12 metres), white tipped sharks, mustard and sting rays. I should say that these shark species are apparently harmless. The sea lions provided a great underwater display, swimming at high speed directly towards you, then turning away at the last second. It was like a game of "chicken". At one point a sea lion decided to have a chew at one of Ruth's fins. We were also able to observe red chested frigate birds, dolphins, penguins, blue footed boobies and turtles. A good success rate for a day trip. On subsequent days, we walked to nearby beaches where we were able to get close up the famous Galapagos marine iguanas and kayak with more sharks, rays and turtles. The blue footed boobies put on wonderful,close-up (1 metre away) displays of their fishing technique which involves amazing high speed dives into the water from great height.

Time was moving on and we needed to set off westwards but two days before departure, fate had a little surprise for us. Just before 10pm one night, an 83ft long tourist ship, weighing 240 tons, was leaving the bay and not looking where he was going..... He saw us and put his engines into full reverse, and turned away, but not fast enough to avoid smacking into poor 'Do It' and raking down our starboard side. Very traumatic - the boat did not stop, and we were left with three bent stanchions and the top guard wire snapped in two places. The boat also hit our rigging, but thankfully the oversized wire we have fitted seems to have withstood the impact. Having heard stories of Gringos attempting to obtain restitution in Latin American countries, we visited the Port Captain the next day with trepidation. However, the Port Captain could not have been more concerned and helpful and the owners of the ship could not have been more apologetic, accepting full responsibility and offering to pay for the damage. We soon had the damage fixed and new coat of paint on the stanchions (which now have a slightly pretzel shape). One of the advantages of a steel yacht.

On Sunday 29th April 2007, we set off for our longest passage yet,3000 miles to Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas. Hopefully by the next report, we will have arrived.

If you have a broadband link, you can see a video of our experiences here.

What Broke this Month

Well the biggy this month has to be the stanchions and safety wire artfully rearranged by the Galapagos tourist boat. However, I think we can put this one down to 'unfair wear and tear' and claim a reasonably clean bill of health for this month. Long may it continue

Culinary Delights

As with our previous long passages, Do It is now stocked with an amazing array of fruit and vegetables, the competition to eat it all before it goes rotten starts now. We currently have bananas, passion fruit, papaya and soursop all ripe and ready to eat.

Videos

For those of you with Broadband internet, this month's video is here:

• Galapagos Architecture and Wildlife.