It's a 10,000 to 12,000 mile migration that takes many of the whales past Orange County shores. The early-birds, so to speak, begin showing up in December as they migrate south to Mexican waters. But the largest numbers of grays don't arrive until January. If you go to the Whale Migration and Sighting Report section of SeaView, you can insert any date you wish and find out where the largest number of whales are likely to be found. The location is meant to refer to a large, general area.
Grays typically travel alone or in pairs.
So the animals are spread out over a huge area. Most grays leave the lagoons of Baja California in late February and March, although it's not unusual to see stragglers swimming past our shores well into April. Popular literature says that all the whales return to the Bering and Chukchi seas to feed on krill, shrimp-like creatures that are rich in protein. However, scientists speculate that some grays do not go north of the Pacific Northwest in some years. No one's sure why.