Hundreds of people pulled off the highway to watch the mother and her calf. They were only about a quarter mile from shore, clearly visible from the highway.

A drone watched from high above the water as the two surfaced intermittently for nearly 30 minutes.

After entertaining the crowd on the beach, the two headed south.

Right whales migrate from December to March.

The pair was spotted in the St. Johns River Monday and the sighting shut down the Port of Jacksonville Monday. Right whales are an endangered species and it’s against federal law to come within 500 yards of one.

Featured

Mathew Palmer, a former Delta Air Lines employee, at his home in Atlanta on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.  Palmer was fired less than two weeks after writing a post on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Natrice Miller/AJC)