Chañaral de Aceituno

The ocean surface breaks and a dark back rises — 25 metres of fin whale rolling through water so green with plankton it looks like liquid jade. Bottlenose dolphins have been flanking the boat since the harbour mouth, and the fisherman steering knows exactly where the whales will surface because his family has worked these currents for three generations. Chañaral de Aceituno sits on Chile's Atacama coast, a tiny caleta where the Humboldt Current upwelling turns the Pacific into one of the most productive feeding grounds on the continent.

Fin whales — the second-largest animals on Earth — feed in these waters from August to December, making Chañaral de Aceituno one of only three reliable fin whale sites in Chile. The Humboldt Current upwelling is so productive here that the water turns visibly green with phytoplankton in spring, a colour change visible from the shore. Boat operators are the same fishing families who work these waters commercially — their knowledge of conditions and routes cannot be replicated by outside tour companies. Common bottlenose dolphins accompany boats for the entire journey to the whale grounds, with encounters beginning before you clear the bay. All three South American flamingo species can also be seen at nearby coastal lagoons. The village has a single restaurant serving congrio dorado baked whole, and fishermen grill ostiones in their shells between trips.