A gray whale and her calf seen from the Point Reyes Headlands on April 29, 2017. Why is Point Reyes a Good Whale Watching Location? The headlands of the Point Reyes Peninsula offer one of the finest spots to view the gray whale along the California coast (weather permitting). Offshore lies the Gulf of the Farallones (protected by the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary), which provides a 32-kilometer (20-mile) wide 'highway' along which the whales cruise. Similar to automobile travel on U.S. roadways that run north to south, gray whales travel in the western lane (farther out to sea) as they migrate south past Point Reyes in December and January, and in the eastern lane (closer to shore) as they migrate north past Point Reyes in March, April, and May. The Point Reyes Peninsula juts 16 kilometers (10 miles) into the Pacific Ocean, allowing land-based visitors to get closer to the middle of the 'highway,' rather than only being able to view the whales from the eastern 'sidewalk.' As a result, whale watchers can potentially see many more whale from the Point Reyes Headlands (e.g., the Chimney Rock and the Point Reyes Lighthouse areas) than from along the park's beaches or most other locations along the California coastline.