A film series in which the famous underwater explorer takes his oceanographic vessel Calypso on a voyage of adventure and scientific discovery.

This nickname for the 35-ton Californian Greys was coined when a 19th-century whaling captain stumbled on their breeding grounds in the desert lagoons of Baja California. Only after years of slaughter were the whales eventually protected, and now Cousteau follows some of the remaining 8,000 as they cover the last part of the 5,000-mile migration from their Arctic feeding grounds.
In the desert lagoons Cousteau and his team watch these giants underwater, the care of the mothers for their young, and then make a desperate attempt to save the life of a stranded baby whale.
Produced by Les Requins Associes and Metromedia Producers Corporation (from Bristol; first shown on BBC2)