It has been said that the gray whales feed for four months and fast the rest of the year storing food to last through their migration and return. Feeding is accomplished by diving to the bottom rolling on their right side and gathering the mud, water and amphipods into their mouths. It is then forced out through their baleen with their tongue and throat muscles leaving millions of amphipods to swallow. They dive for three to five minutes and then surface for three to five minutes for short breaths. They have been known to dive for as long as ten minutes on some occasions.
Gray whales are the only bottom feeding baleen whales.
All others feed at the sea surface. Free return tickets will be issued in the rare event that whales or other significant mammals are not sighted.