Let me take this opportunity to tell you a little about these magnificent creatures. Grey Whales are often called the friendly whales for their sociable behavior towards humans. Some of them will come right up to a boat and float there, waiting to be petted. As you reach down and gently stroke their smooth barnacled flesh, their eyes will close in what appears to be pleasure. After nearly being completely extinguished by human's violent hunts for their oil (used for lamps and machine lubrication), their baleens (used to make women's corsets), their skin and their meat for consumption, one can only be in awe at their docile approach towards those who have persecuted them so mercilessly. Are they attempting to send us a message?

Grey whales make the longest migration of any mammal known. Similarly to Humpbacks, they feed in the northern cold waters around Bering Strait and Chukchi seas. They migrate south to reproduce in the lagoons of the Pacific Ocean, specifically the west coast of Baja California (Guerrero Negro ñ Scammon's lagoon, San Ignacio and Magdalena Bay ). The other population goes from the Okhotsk Sea (East coast of Russia ) to South Korea. The Atlantic population was unfortunately hunted to extinction some 150 years ago.

This species is the only Cetacean that feeds by straining the sediment from the bottom floor. Their diet consists of up to 95% amphipods (crustaceans that live in tubes in the mud and sand in shallow ocean floors) but can also include worms and mollusks. They will rub the bottom sideways and strain the water and mud out with their baleens (bristles located in the upper jaw and used as a filter). Perhaps, that is what our whale was doing on Monday morning. It was in very shallow waters, rubbing the bottom constantly, raising silt everywhere it went. As with Humpbacks, most of their migration means a serious diet as there is no sufficient amounts of food for them in warm waters. They will mostly consume their own fat and loose tremendous amounts of weight.

Grey whales are easily recognized by their lack of dorsal fin. Instead, they have a low hump with between 6 and 12 knuckles descending in size between the hump and the fluke (proper term for a cetacean's tail). They are mottled with patches of dark and light grey. Unlike Humpbacks which have barnacles in specific areas, Greys have them in patches all over their body. A barnacle is a very small crustacean that attaches itself to whales and other objects. See this page for detailed info on barnacles:
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjan99/barnac.html
As a matter of fact, Grey whales may have 100-200kg (221 - 441lb) of barnacles attached to their head and body. Females are slightly larger than males.