Port Orford is a great place to watch whales.

Imagine a mammal that at birth is 15 feet long and weighs 1,500 pounds; that will grow to weigh 30-40 tons; an animal that feeds on tiny shrimp and tube worms it scoops up from the sea floor. Gray Whales are magnificent animals that were once hunted almost to extinction.

Most Gray Whales spend the summer and early fall months in the arctic waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas. Around mid to late fall the whales start their 6000 mile journey south to their mating and calving lagoons in Baja California, Mexico -- one of the longest migrations on the planet. The whales return north in the spring, when it is possible to see mothers with babies, as well as courting and mating adults.

Oregon has resident Gray Whales, and from spring to fall they can often be found feeding among the rocks offshore. Look for their blows, or if you are really lucky you might see one breaching.

Gray whales travel close to the coast and the coast near Port Orford is a good place to watch whales. Whales are often spotted around the rocks south of Battle Rock Park.

Whale Watching Spoken Here provides volunteers to help visitors observe the whales during the winter and spring migrations. To learn more, visit their web site at http://whalespoken.org/

Marine Mammals

Many marine mammals live in the offshore waters, including the threatened Stellar Sea Lion. The Blanco reef is a rookerie where adult animals gather to breed and give birth.

Sea Otters were once plentiful in the kelp beds offshore, but during the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, Southern Sea Otters were hunted to near extinction. Alaskans and their Russian overseers ranged the coast from Baja California to Oregon in search of furs. By 1820 there were so few Sea Otters left that the Russian settlement at Fort Ross had turned to agriculture and stock raising. Today Sea Otters can be found off California's central coast; they have not returned to Oregon's waters.