Victor Harbor, Australia

The historic holiday town of Victor Harbor, on Encounter Bay, is experiencing a renaissance, thanks principally to whales and penguins. In the 1830s there were three whaling stations here, hunting southern right whales, which came to Encounter Bay to mate and breed between June and September, heading close to shore, where they became easy targets. Not surprisingly, their numbers began to decline, and by 1930 they had been hunted almost to extinction. Half a century later there were signs of recovery: in 1991, forty were spotted in the bay and eighty thousand people flocked to see them, while in 1998, sixteen females stayed in the bay to calf, and a dozen humpback whales were also spotted. In recent years, there have been regular sightings of hundreds of calves each year enjoying the calm waters.