Tybee Island Marine Science Center to host Whale Week
A weeklong series of engaging events to raise awareness about the endangered North Atlantic right whales
From Dec. 1–6, the Tybee Island Marine Science Center presents Whale Week 2025. Now in its eighth year, Whale Week features an exciting and informative array of scientific, cultural and historical educational events to raise awareness and promote conservation efforts in support of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
“Whale Week was originally started by a local who wanted to promote right whales,” said Beth Palmer, Operations Director at Tybee Island Marine Science Center. “A lot of people don’t realize that we have whales off our coast, and we’re very important habitats for North Atlantic right whales. Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina are among the only known calving grounds for this vital species. There’s estimated to be about 380 left. So, this program was created to bring awareness to that.”
Palmer said that North Atlantic right whales can be hard to spot in the ocean, as they don’t have large dorsal fins. For that reason, many locals don’t know that the whales are there. Whale Week is designed to change that by putting forth a slate of events to inform the public about the plights of this aquatic species and promote their protection.
“You can’t protect them if you don’t know that they exist, so we’re making it known that these are animals that come to our coast to have their babies here during the winter time and they’re a very endangered species,” said Palmer. “Once we have that awareness, we have the education component, and once people have that knowledge, they have the ability to make decisions that can help protect the whales. For example, boating in certain ways that may protect the whales, spreading the word to others, reducing our speeds during their season while they’re here, even just from regular boaters, and also reducing our plastic use as well. So, all these little things that we can do that can help protect them.”
Whale Week 2025 kicks off on Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at Savannah State University’s Torian auditorium with a screening of the brand-new documentary Entangled, followed by a Q&A with with one of the scientists who was featured in the film.
On Tuesday, there will be a whale trivia night from 6–9 p.m. at Starland Yard, where community partners will have information tables set up in addition to inflatable whales.
On Wednesday, the 3rd, Whale Week makes a splash at Skidaway’s UGA Aquarium, where the public can enjoy themed activities. There will also be Whale Bingo at Gray’s Reef Ocean Discovery Center in downtown Savannah.
A highlight of Whale Week 2025 is the Whales, Women & Wine panel taking place from 6–8 p.m. at Front Porch Improv for the first time:
“We’re very excited to bring some of that community in to learn about these right whales and the women that are researching them and educating about them in different areas,” said Palmer.
Following on Friday from 6–7:30 p.m. is the Line & Strikes Art Show taking place in conjunction with Starland District’s First Friday art market. Local artists and students will present whale-themed multimedia artworks.
Whale Week wraps up on Saturday, Dec. 6 with the Right Whale to Save Festival at the Tybee Island Marine Science Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“This is the first festival that we’ve done on Tybee, “ said Palmer. “We’ve done some festival-ish events at Forsyth Park as far as the farmers market the past couple years, but this year we want to make it bigger and better. We’ll be on Tybee right next to the science center. We’ll have music. We’ll have North Beach Bar and Grill providing some fun food specials. We’ll also have Chazito’s food truck here with us, some music and games, some vendors, and just learning about right whales and having fun.”
She encourages the public to come out and attend the various Whale Week events this year.
“These events are fun and informative and they’re all free so you get to learn about right whales but also just enjoy a fun time! We’ll also be having activities all week at the science center . . . and we have a lot of great community partners that are working with us.”
Whale Week 2025 events are free and open to the public. To learn more and see the full schedule of events, visit tybeemarinescience.org/whale-week/.
