The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: December nineteenth, where the whale-watching's best.

Of all creatures on land or sea, none are more magnificent than the great whales. With the exception of the orca, the so-called killer whale, no other of these aquatic mammals live long in captivity. So, to see cetaceans court, calf, feed and frolic, you must travel to their natural habitats. The World Wildlife Fund has identified the following locations as the best spots to watch whales.

Only three attract whales year round. Great sperm whales frequent the waters off the Japanese island of Shikoku and New Zealand's Kaikoura Peninsula, while gray, blue, and humpback whales can be seen from the shores of Baja Mexico near Cabo San Lucas.

Summer's the season for whale- watching off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where at least five different species frequently frolic. Minke whales and orcas can be seen from the shore near Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Other spots for summer sightings are the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in Antarctica and the Lofoten Islands off the northwest coast of Norway.

This time of year, one can stand on the shore and watch rights and orcas migrate along South Africa's whale route and along the Argentina's Patagonia coast. The observatory on San Diego's Cabrillo National Monument is a great whale-watching site. Finally, January to March is the whale-watching season in Samana Bay on the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic, as humpbacks and pilot whales follow warm ocean currents to their winter feeding grounds.

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