Growing whale-watching excursions near Rio de Janeiro’s coast captivate tourists

RIO DE JANEIRO – Famous for its beaches and vibrant parties in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, Rio de Janeiro has a growing attraction for winter: humpback whales.

The tourism agency of Niteroi, Rio’s sister city across the Guanabara Bay, on Thursday launched a whale-watching program that enables tourists to closely observe the mammoth mammals.

Between June and November, humpback whales migrate to Brazilian waters to breed. Around 25,000 humpback whales make a 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) journey from feeding areas in Antarctica to northeast Brazil. Most concentrate in the Abrolhos region, an area of coral reefs off the coast of Bahia and Espirito Santo states known for featuring the greatest marine biodiversity in the South…