Baja California extends off the southern tip of California. Some think of it as an appendix. I think of it as a come-hither finger (you just gotta turn the map upside down). Baja is a sparsely populated region, wild and arid. Sea kayaking along its coast is an exercise in ectasy.

More than 20 species of cetaceans spend time around Baja. Grays breed and calve in the lagoons along the Pacific. Bahia Magdalena is a center for gray whale observation. Humpbacks and blues breed in the Sea of Cortez; Bahia de los Angeles is the center there. If you're the kind of person who prefers to remain on shore, the Cabo San Lucas at the peninsula's southern tip is a good spot to observe passing whales and have your feet firmly planted on the ground.

GORPtravel Whale Watching in Baja

It's no coincidence that Moby Dick and much of America's historical whaling culture is centered in Cape Cod. Gone are the whalers, but the Cape is still considered the best place on the East Coast to watch whales, especially in spring and summer. It's all thanks to the Stellwagen Bank, which is a massive underwater plateau off the Cape's northern tip. Because of currents pushing down the coast from Nova Scotia, the bank is home to a rich food chain that makes it a three star feeding ground for whales.

You can pick up a boat in Provincetown, Plymouth, Barnstable, or even Boston.

GORPtravel Whale Watching in New England

The current gray whale population numbers 21,000. An impressive 94 percent of that number pass within a mile of the Point Reyes in the first two weeks of January. Standing on a bluff in the cold, you can see gray spouts out at sea. Californians make their own seasonal migration to greet them, and call out their support. But you have whale watching opportunities all year long along the coast. In the spring through fall, humpbacks, blue whales, minkes, right whales, and orcas swim these waters.

GORPtravel California coast trips

This is the best place in the world to see orcas, the Mr. and Miss Personalities of the cetacean world. Both sides of Vancouver Island afford primo opportunities. On the west coast, Tofino is a quaint town with an embedded orca-watching culture. On the island's east side, head for Campbell River, where you can either take a boat out into the Strait of Georgia, or just watch them from the shore.

Up the coast, Telegraph Cove is one of the most popular destinations in the world for orca watching and is located only a few miles from the Robson Bight Ecological Preserve, Canada's only killer whale sanctuary. Although you are not allowed to enter the sanctuary by land or water, orcas are active throughout the area. Humpback whales have recently been seen here, along with large schools of Pacific white-sided dolphins. There's more than whales in this maze of coastal byways: Keep your eyes peeled for eagles, seal lions, and much, much more.

GORPtravel Vancouver Island trips

Whales are all through the Caribbean, but for our money the Dominican Republic is the top spot. Humpbacks are the apple of the whale watcher's eye here. There is a humpback whale sanctuary at Silver Bank, Dominican Republic, where the humpbacks gather during late winter and early spring to mate and breed. Male humpbacks serenade females with the longest and most complex songs in the animal kingdom. You'll be whistling a happy tune too while you get a gander at these big fellas. And you'll probably be encountering a lively party of other whales and dolphins.

GORPtravel Whale Watching in the Caribbean