Whale spotting in Ecuador

My next stop was the small coastal town of Puerto Lopez, situated amidst the beautiful `National Park Machalilla` which is an increasingly popular hot-spot in Ecuador for whale watching between June to September. It also acts as the primary gateway to ´Isle La Plata´, which is more commonly known as "the poor mans Galapagos" because its home to similar species of animals and plants without the exorbitant tourist prices, yet I chose not to visit this time around.

Apparently, the globes population of humpback whales split into a few large groups who make 2 immense journeys each year between their feeding and breeding sites. Cold waters close to the polar regions provide more nutrient rich waters for feeding, whilst the warmer waters of equatorial coastal regions are visited for mating, giving birth and caring for their calves.

Interestingly, such groups stick to either their northern or southern hemisphere routes where the seasons oppose each other, hence there is little evidence of individuals meeting their opposing counterparts. Put more simply, whales feeding in Antarctica will most likely never meet whales feeding in northern Alaska because they stick to specific hemispheres during their lifespans.

The Southeast Pacific humpback stock can be found in groups of up to 200 at a time off the tropical coasts of Colombia, Ecuador and Panama, when rival males occasionally launch themselves above the ocean surface in spectacular shows of dominance and rivalry whilst courting nearby mates. Alternatively, the females can be found more placidly on the surface with newborn calves, making for easier, less split-second photo opportunities for us visitors :)

Whilst whale-watching is becoming increasingly popular in Ecuador, it has a great deal more to develop given I was raced last-minute to the shoreline before being asked to swim out to a departing boat, complete with bag and camera above my head. What followed was a wet, sick-inducing experience in choppy waters, shared mostly by Spanish speaking Ecuadorian tourists with non-English speaking guides desperately attempting to spot whales so as to justify their generous US dollar profits collected from each of us.

The grey El`Nino induced weather was also hardly photo-inspirational, however we managed to sight and approach 6 whales, tail flapping, blowhole spurting and occasionally leaping. It was certainly an amazing experience seeing such animals twice the size of our boat, leaping out of the water in front of you, yet from a photographic point of view it was extremely challenging trying to capture the split-second moments in decent clarity; especially with excited Ecuadorians exorcising the impolite, but common South American behaviour of pushing and shoving for best possible viewing spaces.

I should also add that capturing the scale of these giants on film is also next to impossible, given they are usually surrounded by open sea with few ´smaller´ objects nearby which would give the viewer some reference; and although I did consider throwing in a few of my shorter companions overboard to aid in this dilemma, I was very much outnumbered and preferred my camera dry. So with regards to photography, I guess it really is about the right place at the right time with the right people, however ´off film´ the experience was well worth it, and I luckily seemed to have better sea-legs than I originally thought ( only spewed once :)