I have spoken to many people who believe that whale-watching involves travelling far away from Britain. The media describe Humpback Whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, in New England, Southern Right Whales, Eubalaena australis, in Cape Town, and Gray Whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in California. When I explain to them that the waters which separate the south coast of England and the north coast of Spain are as rich in cetaceans as any of the famous far-flung whale-watching destinations around the world, they look at me with an air of suspicion.