Whale watching has 2 perfect seasons. Most travelers only book 1

The humpback whales breaching off Alaska’s Inside Passage in July are the same animals fluking through Banderas Bay by December. They travel roughly 3,000 miles each way, feeding in Alaska’s cold, nutrient-rich waters through summer, then heading south to Mexico’s Pacific coast to breed and calve through winter. Most travelers encounter them once on a cruise, a tour or a beach and count themselves lucky, but those who understand the migration book both windows: two trips, two oceans, one continuous story.