Why do gray whales migrate? How long does the migration last? Where do they go from here? When will we see them again?

When you visit one of the 26 "Whale Watching Spoken Here" sites along the Oregon coast you will find answers to these questions and many more, and you will have a chance to see a whale for yourself.

More than 400 trained volunteers will be at the selected sites from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. during the annual spring whale watch week. They will answer questions and give advice about spotting some of the 18,000-plus gray whales cruising north to their summer feeding grounds in Alaska and the Arctic.

"It's a 12,000-mile journey," said Morris Grover at the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department's Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay. "The migration peaks about the last week of March. For whale watchers, it's the greatest show on earth."

The traffic is not limited to gray whales, Grover added. More than 1,000 humpback whales join the migration.

Grover says that morning is the best time to watch. "The ocean is generally calmer, and the sun is at your back."

Visitors also will find information and viewing help from 10 a.m-4 p.m. each day of the spring whale watching week at the Depoe Bay center on the north end of the U.S. 101 bridge in town.

The Oregon State University/Sea Grant Hatfield Marine Science Center offers coinciding presentations that include children story times in nearby Newport.

Maps of the Whale Watching Spoken Here viewpoints, information on charter boat and airplane tours, and whale watching tips are online at www.whalespoken.org.

OPRD coordinates the whale watch weeks with support from the Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Washington State Parks and U.S. Cellular.