13 years ago, Mark and I had a very special time on Isabela: snorkeling with penguins, exploring Los Túneles — a wonderfully surreal landscape shaped by now-flooded lava tunnels — and doing our provisioning at a farm where we picked our own fruit and vegetables straight from the fields.

For years we’ve told the boys about how magical it was, adding only slightly dramatic details along the way. We always said: one day, if we ever come back with you, we hope you’ll get to experience it too.

Well… here we are.

Isabela is the biggest island in the archipelago, but also home to the smallest town. The roads are mostly sand, and the port is so shallow and reefy that big ships simply can’t get in. Which is probably why the place still feels wonderfully wild.

Naturally, we signed up for the Los Túneles tour.

Step one: getting there. Which involves a very speedy little motorboat ride across the water. Before we had even seen a single animal, the boys were already thrilled — wind in their faces, waves bouncing us along…Two outboards with each 250hp – the dream!

We even got to sit up top with Captain Flavio — slightly windblown by the time we arrived, but with the best view in the house.

Then suddenly: a gigantic manta ray gliding beneath us.

Behind my sunglasses I may or may not have gotten a bit teary. It felt like Neptune himself had arranged a private show — Mark and I standing there with our boys, all of us staring at this incredible creature.

Not just dreaming about it.
Not just talking about it at the dinner table.
This was really happening.

And the day kept unfolding just like that. Penguins, blue-footed boobies, turtles — so many we stopped counting. We did see fewer penguins than last time, but we’re simply a bit early in the season. The last time we visited was two months later in the year, during the cooler season.

But in exchange we snorkeled with far more sharks and even spotted an incredible seahorse.

The next day we headed up to the highlands of Isabela to visit Finca de Troya, an organic farm. Silvio showed us around his land and we picked pineapples, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelons straight from the fields.

This place is magical.

The boys took to it in a way I hadn’t quite expected. Silvio spent so much time explaining all the plants, handing the boys sugar cane to chew on, letting us taste fresh guavas and cutting a huge flame ginger flower for us.

All around us wandered not just chickens, but ducks, geese, cats and dogs — a lively little farmyard. We collected eggs hidden under bushes and fed the chickens with our banana peels (they had never seen any spray here so no danger for them).

Within about ten minutes our boys had started planning their future farming careers. Days roaming the fields, growing fruit, collecting eggs — clearly the dream.

They worked hard too, carrying heavy boxes filled with all that wonderful produce.

It also sparked a new curiosity about trying different fruits and vegetables — something every mother appreciates. (Although to be fair, our three have always been pretty good with that. I know how lucky I am.)

They kept commenting on how nice it must feel when hard work pays off like that — while also discussing whether we could hatch one of the eggs and end up with a “boat chook.”

Mark and I lingered behind a little at times, just watching them. Feeling very grateful that we truly got to experience this with them… just as we had hoped all these years.

Today is our last full day on Isabela before we clear out tomorrow morning. An immigration officer is being flown in especially.

And then we’ll have to say goodbye to a place that will always be where my mind wanders on grey days — these islands where I happily leave behind a little piece of my heart.

The Galápagos.