A lone Gray Whale was headed north when Allen Vinson photographed him recently. I'm assuming it's a male because he was traveling alone. You can see the whale was quite close to shore.

 And here's what we often see, the back of the whale slicing through the water with the spout trailing off behind.

To see a photo of the distinctive tail of a Gray Whale, here's a link to Rozann Grunig's photo: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/11/26/thanksgiving-day-brought-sightings-of-gray-whales/

Thanks to Allen for allowing me to share his photos with you here.