Want to whale watch? Try the Ecuadorian coast!

The shore that runs some 530 miles to define Ecuador’s Pacific coastline offers pristine beaches, vibrant surfing towns, traditional fishing villages, tepid seawater, exotic wildlife, archeological sites and a supremely bio-diverse abundance of flora and fauna. And every year, from May through September, this Ecuadorian region receives some very special visitors: humpback whales.

Following a 5,000-mile journey, these gracious giants (Megaptera novaeangliae) arrive here from Antarctica in search of warmer waters in which to mate and reproduce.

Here, we look at these and other attractions that make a visit to this “route of the sun” more than worthwhile.

The annual “humpback festival”

The principal reason to whale watch on the Ecuadorian coast is, of course, the whales themselves. Thousands of travelers come annually to the small Ecuadorian fishing village of Puerto Lopez, attracted by the chance to witness the mating rituals of…