Humpback whales are making a big return off Brazil, and whale watchers are seeing it up close.

In Guanabara Bay, whale-watching trips are becoming popular as the humpback population has grown from 2,000 in 1986 to around 35,000 today.

Every year, the whales migrate from Antarctic feeding grounds to warmer waters to breed. The group that passes Guanabara Bay and Rio de Janeiro heads toward Abrolhos Bank, a coral reef region spanning the coasts of Bahia and Espirito Santo.

Abrolhos Bank is described in the source as one of the most biodiverse areas of the Atlantic.

The migration happens between June and November, when the animals are regularly photographed by groups including the Humpback Whale Project, Amigos da Jubarte, or Friends of the Humpback Whale, and Niteroi’s tourism agency whale-watching program.

Members of those groups spoke with ABC News in the US and The Associated Press about their experiences.

“It’s wonderful,” said Enrico Marcovaldi, co-founder of the Humpback Whale Project. “It shows that the whales are making a recovery, are healthy and thriving, and hopefully they’ll continue to do so.”

André Bento, president of Niteroi’s tourism agency, told AP during an outing in late June that “Tourism can be a tool for the protection of species.”

“I don’t think anyone who gets on this boat comes off the same way, right?” he said.

The source also said record numbers of returning humpback whales have been reported in South Africa, eastern Australia and in the Salish Sea off the coast of Seattle, where they were not seen at all for many years and now number in the hundreds.

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