People come from all over the world to learn about the gray whales that travel along the Oregon coast each year. Whales are visible from Oregon’s shores all year long although some months are better than others.

In the Winter nearly 20,000 gray whales migrate from mid-December through mid-January as they travel south to the warm lagoons of Baja Mexico.

The Whale Watching Spoken Here® program places volunteers at great whale watching sites during the two official watch weeks. The official Whale Watch Weeks typically take place between the Christmas Holiday and New Year’s day and during the last week in March. For more than 30 years, trained volunteers have helped visitors watch whales at sites in three states along the Pacific Northwest coast.

Volunteers will be stationed at designated locations on Wednesday, December 27th through Sunday, December 31st.

Find Whale Watching Spoken Here® program volunteers at these locations: Heceta Head Lighthouse, north of Florence; Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, Winchester Bay; Shore Acres State Park, Coos Bay; Face Rock Scenic Viewpoint, Bandon; Harris Beach State Park, Brookings.

Learn more at orwhalewatch.org. More info about state parks on the coast is at stateparks.oregon.gov