Winter Whales Watching From Depoe Bay, Oregon
Every spring and fall thousands of people flock to the Depoe Bay , Oregon to watch the Pacific gray whales that are on migrations of their own. Some might query who is watching whom. Those who have seen a pod in motion, the spume in the air, the backs, the fins raised out of the water as if to wave hello, keep coming back for more.
The gray whale was once an endangered species, but protection measures have brought the great sea creatures back to healthy numbers. The species was removed from the endangered species list in 1994. The whales migrate each year, about 12,000 miles (19,311 km) round-trip, from northern waters off Alaska to the Gulf of California in Mexico, and back.
Watchers can spot them on their way north in the spring, or returning south in the fall and early winter. The pods usually stay close to land, generally from one-half mile to three miles (.8 km - 4.8 km) offshore. In the fall and winter, the groups of two to 10 individuals are led by pregnant females on their route south. The whales winter over in shallow Mexican waters where the mother whales give birth to their young. In late winter and early spring the whales head back north, where the young will feed and grow in the Bering and Chukchi seas.