‘Tis the season for a whale of a sight.

So, your Great-Aunt Tilly just gave you another pink and purple polka-dot tie and you’re not up to braving the shopping mall crowd to return it on Saturday, the day after Christmas. The folks at the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro have an alternative.

Try whale-watching.

Saturday is the kickoff for the 16th year of the Cabrillo Whale Watch, sponsored by the museum and the Los Angeles chapter of the American Cetacean Society. For the next three months, you can catch a glimpse of mammoth Pacific gray whales, each up to 50 feet long and weighing as much as 100,000 pounds. Because the grays are too large to be kept in aquariums or studied in captivity, this could be the closest view you’ll ever get.

“You can only do it if you’re in this area,” said Kathy Haynes, who coordinates the watch for the museum. “It’s hard to view them further north because they’re not as close to shore as they go through Oregon and Washington.”

Each year at this time, thousands of Pacific grays make a 12,000-mile migration--one of the longest on Earth--from the frigid waters of Alaska’s Bering Sea to the comfort and warmth of the Baja California lagoons, where they mate and bear their young.

According to museum officials, it is not uncommon for 75 to 100 whales to pass close to the Southern California shore during a 24-hour period.

During February and March, Haynes said, the slow-moving whales can be seen traveling both southbound and northbound, because by that time the whales that migrated first are on their return trip. By the end of April, Haynes said, most of the female whales will be moving north with their calves.

The whale-watching trips, which will continue through April 10, are run through several private companies in the South Bay. Although there are other private companies running whale-watching trips, the ones participating in the museum’s program provide naturalists, trained by the museum and the Cetacean Society. The naturalists ride aboard each boat and tell passengers about the biology of the whales.

Each whale-watching trip lasts between two and three hours, and Haynes said most of the boats hold between 100 and 145 passengers, although those run by Catalina Cruises hold up to 500. Tickets cost between $8 and $10 for adults and between $5 and $7 for children. Sailing times and prices vary, depending on the landing and the time of the week. The trips run every day. Last year, according to Haynes, about 64,000 people participated in the museum’s program.

The trip itself is as variable as the sea and the weather, so dress warmly for the breeze, bring a hat to hold your hair, sunglasses and binoculars, which Haynes says are needed to spot the blows of the whales. Once the blows are in view, the skipper moves the boat to what is considered safe viewing distance, 100 yards from the whale.

Food is available for purchase on the various boats, but families often bring a picnic lunch. No glass containers are allowed on board.

There is no guarantee that whales will be seen, and the landings have different rain-check policies, so it is best to ask in advance. By the same token, there are sometimes extra bonuses in store: Last year, Haynes said, whale watchers off Redondo Beach sighted orcas , the killer whales.

So forget about the mall. Keep the tie. You can always wear it when Great-Aunt Tilly comes to visit.