It seems that the whale scene in Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams' funny 2020 film “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” was not so exaggerated.

We chalked the scene of two massive Buckels, which violated the cinematic magic in breathtaking harmony. But the small Icelandic city of Husavik isn’t only considered the whale statement capital of Iceland, a lonely planet that might be “the best whale observation center all over Europe”.

Relatives: 5 Big Whale Festivals in Northern California for spring 2025

Now we’re very completely satisfied to look at in Monterey Bay or to look at from the Mendocino country runs at gray whales or humps. However, if you happen to are fascinated with further spending Cetacean within the mountains, Lonely Planet recently classified the highest -whale statement goals of the planet.

Husavik leads the list, but you can see many other tempting places, from Antarctic to Baja California, Kauai and Tasmania. Here is a take a look at the highest 10. Find the entire story www.lonelyplanet.comIncluding recommendations, when to go, what to be seen and with which travel company is to be booked. (Psst, there may be even a reputation of Friends of Moby Dick.)

10 Best Wales Walk statement experiences on this planet

1 Húsavík, Iceland

2 Antarctic

3 French -Polynesia

4 Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

5 Nuuk, Greenland

6 Tasmania

7 Kauai

8 Madeira

9 Newfoundland, Canada

10 Baja California sur

Majestic gray whales hike off the California coast in spring and like Barnacles within the hope of further enhancing, hundreds of individuals flock to see them.

In 2025 there shall be more whaling festivals than in previous years, mainly as a consequence of covid and other forces of nature that cancel the past. Does that mean that there shall be more whales? You just have to search out out.

In the order of the info, you will discover five whaling tests in spring 2025. Note: While most of the Shebangs from Mendocino County happen until the weekend, Saturday is frequently the day with the invited event plan.

Mendocino Whale Festival: 1. to March 2

This annual Biggie whale activities over two days of fun divides. On Saturday there shall be a Chowder tasting within the Bevy of Mendocinos Bevy of Pareal Business (12:00 p.m., $ 65) on Saturday with local restaurants (10 a.m., $ 10 a.m.) and a wine mountaineering trail through Mendocinos.

On Sunday, the Ford House Visitor Center & Museum in Mendocino Keep a gray Wal symposium with suggestions for recognizing these creatures, whereby the binoculars (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) are created. This day will even have walifornia State Park interpreters along the Mendocino countries. It is dog -friendly, but leave strollers at home as a consequence of the bumpy paths (Ford House Visitor Center, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). Details: mendocinocoast.com/mendocino whale festival

Little River Whale Festival: seventh to March eighth

This festival begins on Friday, March seventh, within the back yard of the whale in Van Damme State Park. A sunset on the beach with whale stories, songs, trivia, hot cocoa and S'Mores roasted over campfire (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.). .

On Saturday there shall be a walk on the historical Van Damme Spring Ranch -Immobilie To draw the ocean to whales, with binoculars. The event is canceled when storm appears (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). Also on Saturday there’s a Margarita -Wahnsmsins -Bash on the Little River Inn With bartender that compete for the celebrity of Tequila. The participants can assess as much as six Margaritas, with tickets supporting Mendocino's coastal parks (75 US dollars). Details: Mendocinocoast.com/whale-home

Fort Bragg Whale Fest: fifteenth to seventeenth March

The coastal city has a whale meat of events this yr. On Saturday, visitors might be sporty on the thirty seventh annual Whale Run & Fun Walk along the Coastal Trail in Fort Bragg. Register until March 9 (cheaper prices before February twenty eighth) for various runs, including a half marathon, 5k and a Kiddie's Race (8:30-Noon, whalerun.org).

Most of the opposite events happen on the identical Saturday to list them, but you’ll be able to soon with a chowder tasting within the Fort-Bragg-Gymnasium (20 US, ticket information, soon, frodbraggrotary.com). There is a whale skeleton on Sunday on Sunday Mackerbreich State Park in Fort Braggthrough which visitor can hit the articulated bones of a 30-foot gray whale (freed from charge). And each on Saturday and Sunday there’s a symphony of the Redwood Spring concert with water topics, the orchestra master works within the cotton auditorium (Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 2pm; Symphonyoftheredwoods.org). Details: Visitfortbraggca.com/whalefest

Whalefest Monterey: twelfth to April thirteenth

The fifteenth annual whale festival takes place on the historical, fish -lit old fisherman on the jetty and is a terrific attraction for serious Walenthusiasts. Expect that marine experts share their best whale stories and nature conservation lessons, with conversations this yr, including “Wale Tension: Risks, Answers and Prevention” and “The invisible and unsung heroes of Monterey Bay: The beautiful, amazing microscopic plankton!”

In addition to committed science, it would even be live music, interactive marine exponates, marine craft equivalent to Scrimshaw and the standard Japanese method for “print fish”, who knew? – and the chance to go to research and rescue ships. Oh, and don’t forget the abalone races confiscated by the person. (Free, Whalefest.org)))

SONOMA-Mendocino Coast Whale and Jazz Festival: April 2025

This bizarre festival on the Sonoma coast, more about music than mammoths, often runs in April to collapse Jazz Appreciation Month of the Smithsonian Institution.

There are often live jazz appearances; Jazz-related movies, poems and art; a Chowder challenge and tasting; and scientific discourses on whales of local experts. All of this is completed in beautiful natural environments, including wineries and restaurants by the ocean. The place where you’ll be able to seek for updates, if April is growing closer, is the Gualala Arts Center, which is unquestionably price a visit to the coastal Redwoods. (Free, Gualalaarts.org)))

Originally published: February 4, 2025 at 2:55 p.m. PST

National News

GLENDALE, Arizona — At his first major campaign rally for former President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a crowd Saturday night that he was under investigation for his handling of a whale carcass many years ago.

Kennedy, who endorsed Trump last month after ending his independent bid for president, said on the event in Glendale, Arizona, that he had received a letter from a national fisheries institute “saying they were investigating me because I collected a whale specimen 20 years ago.” He suggested the investigation was politically motivated and said he believed he was protected by the statute of limitations.

The whale incident got here to light this summer after Kennedy admitted that he had left a dead bear cub in New York City's Central Park as a joke in 2014. This drew attention to an article from Town & Country from 2012 In it, his daughter Kick Kennedy said Kennedy once used a chainsaw to saw off the top of a dead whale off the shore of Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and made the five-hour drive to her home in Mount Kisco, New York, with the top strapped to the roof of a minivan.

The mention of the investigation was an odd moment in a campaign rally through which Kennedy was each urging his supporters to support Trump and continuing to attempt to sell his own policies on health and environmental issues – now with a fresh MAGA coat of paint.

“Make America healthy again!” shouted Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who promotes a disproven link between vaccines and autism, to the applause of a whole bunch within the Arizona Christian University gymnasium. “He's going to end the chronic disease epidemic and he wanted my help to do it.”

As Kennedy considered whether to finish his candidacy, he approached Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump to see in the event that they would offer him a Cabinet post. The Harris team declined to fulfill with him, but he found a sympathetic ear in Trump, despite the proven fact that that they had exchanged insults as rivals. While the previous president has not promised Kennedy a Cabinet post, he has hinted that he would work with Kennedy on a task force on chronic health issues.

At the event, where he appeared alongside former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, one other former Democrat, Kennedy attributed the country's political polarization to “hypnosis and a psychological operation” orchestrated by those in power.

Last month, the political arm of the Center for Biological Diversity, a progressive environmental group, sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calling for an investigation into the whale incident, arguing that Kennedy can have broken conservation laws.

Removing body parts from a protected marine animal is against federal law so long as there remains to be “soft tissue” on the carcass.

On stage on the rally, Kennedy said he received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute shortly after endorsing Trump. Kennedy could also be referring to the National Marine Fisheries Service, commonly referred to as NOAA Fisheries, which oversees marine conservation. Representatives from NOAA Fisheries didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Kennedy said on the rally that he had responded to his potential whale researchers, accusing the federal government of allowing offshore wind farms that will kill whales on a large scale. Trump has also provided no evidence to support this claim.

When asked in regards to the investigation after the rally, Kennedy declined to supply further details, calling the subject “gossipy nonsense.”

An endangered right whale was spotted in a unprecedented sighting off the coast of Marin County on Friday, astonishing scientists.

Fewer than 40 of this species, which is one in every of the rarest whales on this planet, are thought to have survived.

“It was amazing,” said research ecologist Jan Roletto, who observed the whale about three miles west of Point Reyes National Seashore aboard a research vessel for Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies.

The weather on Friday was rough, with strong winds whipping up waves 12 to 14 feet high. The goal of the research team's week-long trip was to check wildlife as a part of a partnership between Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue Conservation Science.

But the whale was unmistakable.

“It appeared right in front of us” after which stayed there for nearly 20 minutes, said Roletto, research coordinator for the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries.

As they stood together on the ship's commentary deck, Roletto and marine ecologist Kirsten Lindquist immediately turned and checked out one another.

“We both knew immediately what it was,” said Roletto. The identification has since been officially confirmed by the NOAA Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle based on photos and videos.

The whale had a particular V-shaped blowhole. It was broad and jet black, with no dorsal fin. And on its head was at the very least one cluster of telltale “calluses,” rough, white patches of skin.

“It seemed to be resting,” Roletto said. “It wasn't feeding. It wasn't traveling. It moved a little bit and then sank.”

Like other whales, the species was nearly worn out by business whaling. But unlike other whales – akin to humpbacks, gray whales and blue whales – it has recovered way more slowly. Right whale populations are larger within the Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere.

North Pacific right whales were favored by hunters because they swim slowly near shore and float on the water's surface after death. By the tip of the nineteenth century, as much as 40,000 North Pacific right whales had been slaughtered.

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling banned business hunting of right whales within the North Pacific in 1937, and their numbers began to rise.

However, illegal whaling by the Soviet Union within the northern Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea within the Nineteen Sixties again brought the species to the brink of extinction.

They have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. Although whaling now not poses a threat, the species continues to be threatened by human activities, akin to entanglement in fishing nets and marine debris, ship collisions, the consequences of climate change, oil and gas extraction, and ocean noise.

North Pacific right whales are baleen whales that feed by filtering large amounts of seawater through their comb-like baleen, catching copepods and other zooplankton.

Because they’re so rare, little or no is thought concerning the movements, migration, reproduction or calving of this North Pacific species, said Jim Scarff, an independent whale researcher in Berkeley. Tagging is difficult and unsuccessful, he added.

“There is remarkably little knowledge about their distribution,” he said.

According to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, surveys by the National Marine Fisheries Service have discovered a small variety of North Atlantic right whales within the Gulf of Alaska in a small area called Barnabas Trough. Twelve individuals were discovered within the southeastern Bering Sea.

Over the past decade, there have been a handful of discoveries off the coast of British Columbia and Washington state.

In March 2023, stalk watchers sighted one near shore at Pt. Pinos in Monterey Bay. In April 2022, a fisherman reported a sighting near Point Ano Nuevo in San Mateo County.

“It's always a single animal, often in the spring,” Scarff said. “And then it's never seen again.”

SAN FRANCISCO – A gray whale found floating off the coast of Alameda on April 20 likely died because of this of blunt force injuries from a ship impact, in line with an autopsy.

The death was the primary “local whale mortality” of the 12 months, the California Academy of Sciences said in a press release on Tuesday.

Scientists from the academy and the Marine Mammal Center conducted the autopsy Saturday. According to the academy, the whale was identified as a 40-foot adult female with “full stomach contents and injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.”

The academy said the official explanation for death couldn’t be fully confirmed on account of the whale's decomposed condition and posture.

The whale was first spotted on April 20 near the Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda. The next morning, it landed barely offshore in a sandbar or mud deposit before breaking away and floating freely with the tide, the academy said.

On April 22, the whale was towed to a protected location on Angel Island.

The academy said extreme wind conditions and the timing of the tides delayed the autopsy by several days.

According to the academy, the variety of gray whale strandings tends to extend between March and May, when the whales pass the Bay Area on their method to Alaska.

The academy said the whale's death occurred shortly after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ended an unusual mortality event (UME) involving North Pacific gray whales on the west coast of North America.

According to the academy, the UME was first declared in 2019 after changes within the whale's feeding grounds led to the whales dying off.

The academy said NOAA estimates the grey whale population declined from 20,500 whales in 2019 to 14,526 whales in 2023. Malnutrition, killer whale hunting, entanglements and ship strikes were listed as probably the most common causes of death.

“We continue to document ship strike injuries in gray whales in San Francisco Bay, regardless of other threats to the animals,” said Denise Greig, a research scientist on the academy. “We hope the information we collect can help make the bay safer for whales, ships and people.”