On our way to disembark at Baltra, we made a pre-breakfast stop on North Seymour Island (Baltra Island used to be called South Seymour). Sea lion pups, swallow tail gulls and land iguanas.

The iguanas were transported here by an enlightened US military commander who realized that they were being driven to extinction on Baltra during WWII. With their long lifespans (up to 100 years?), some of the largest iguanas may be veterans of that rescue operation. We saw many displaying male frigate birds.  After breakfast in Baltra harbour, we left our floating home and the crew that had made life so great on our trip. The heat at Baltra airport made me light-headed. I sat down and chugalugged a bottle of water. Washington made sure that everyone got their tickets and saw us off. The flight back to Quito was uneventful and we were met by Advantage Tours’ people. Al and I did a little last minute shopping and then we had a big T-bone ($8) at a restaurant that I like not far from the Windsor Hotel (owned by some ex-pat Argentinos). We were up with the birds the next morning and caught the red-eye to Houston. Our 8 hour layover there was rewarded by a lucky bump up to first class on the flight home to Vancouver. My wife, Carol and Al's Mom, Susan were there to greet us at YVR and were pleased to see us back in one piece.

Despite having been awake for 24 hours, I could not fall asleep. The sights and sounds of the trip kept running through my head. I am sure that, like Darwin, realizations about the significance of many of the things that I saw in those enchanted islands will continue to dawn on me in the years to come.