About Palo Santo Travel
Palo Santo Travel is a specialist marine tour operator running whale-watching and Isla de la Plata excursions along Ecuador's central coast, with pick-ups and departures serving Montañita as well as its home base in nearby Puerto López. Founded in 2013 as a small, direct operator, the company employs biologists and whale researchers and runs professional yachts into Machalilla National Park and the waters offshore.
Its headline experience is humpback whale watching from June to October, when the whales migrate more than 7,000 kilometres from Antarctica to breed and calve off the coast — trips that Palo Santo backs with a sightings guarantee in season. Full-day tours to Isla de la Plata, often called the "poor man's Galápagos," combine boat transfers, guided island trekking to see blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds, and snorkelling over reefs alive with tropical fish and sea turtles. Outside whale season the focus shifts to year-round wildlife, Los Frailes beach, Salango Island and dolphin sightings from January to April.
Because the operator is small and direct, tours run in intimate groups with knowledgeable naturalist guides, and the company channels support into local communities and conservation. For Montañita travellers, it's the go-to option for getting out onto the water and into Ecuador's richest coastal marine reserve.
