It's Whale Watch Week on the Oregon Coast. Cape Perpetua, 3 three miles south of Yachats is one of the prime spots to look for whales on their winter migration.
Gray whales are passing Cape Perpetua as they head south to their winter breeding and calving grounds off Baja, Mexico. Most of the marine mammals are making the trip from their traditional feeding grounds up by the Bering Sea – at 12,000 miles, the longest migration of any creature on Earth.
But, according to Brian Hoeh, Director of the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center, some gray whales are traveling less these days.
Hoeh: "We've had whales actually locate adequate feeding grounds offshore of the Oregon Coast here. So, our resident population has grown and we often see feeding and other types of behavior of whales coming in right close to shore from the cape."
Hoeh says volunteers will be on hand at the visitor center to help people spot whales and understand more about what they're seeing. All Whale Watch events and presentations are free.
