Ayampe is a really small surf town on Ecuador’s coast, just south of the fishing town of Puerto Lopez. We originally booked a few days here to take a trip out to Isla de la Plata, aka “poor man’s Galapagos.” It’s one of the few other places you can see Blue Footed Boobies, and this time of year there’s a good chance of spotting humpback whales on the boat ride to and from the island.
A week before we went, I started having second thoughts about a 90-minute-each-way boat ride in potentially rough waters. Our host in Ayampe suggested we instead book some time with Abel of Joe Salango Tours, operating out of the nearby village of Salango. It was fantastic, and like most things in Ecuador, it was made even more fantastic by how inexpensive it was.
On the first day, we saw a bunch of humpback whales up close. Really close. This juvenile was just playing around in the water for about 10 minutes. What you don’t see in the photo are the two adults that were even closer to the boat.
I know that whales are big, but all I could think was “holy smokes those things are huge!”
After no luck trolling for big fancy fish, we set adrift and caught a few small camotillos (aka torpedo sand perch). Abel’s wife was already cooking some bonito for lunch, so she offered to add our catch to the mix. The camotillo were fried, the bonito were cooked in a fire pit, and it was all delicious.
The next day we went out for a little more whale watching, then anchored by Salango island for some snorkeling and a quick view of a few blue feet, which you can’t really see in my poor photo.
It was fun to hear that crackling sound in the water, and know what it probably was coming from pistol shrimp.
With good waves right there in Ayampe, I felt compelled to remind myself just how difficult surfing is, so we rented a surfboard and a body-board from a little local shop. There wasn’t much actual legitimate surfing, but we had fun being tossed around by the waves.