RW Stone 1945 Gray Whale 1. May 20 1 mi S Malpaso Creek, Monterey Co., Calif. While driving south along the coast highway (Rt 1) about 1 mile south of Malpaso Creek, we saw a whale surface 200 yards or so off shore near some kelp beds. After stopping we saw 3 whales travelling north together almost touching each other. They were perhaps 30' long & relatively small-headed baleen whales. There was no dorsal fin but a noticeable angle where the back started sloping to the tail. They were brownish gray heavily mottled on the back. The spout was not high and was rather sloppy probably due to the rather strong on-shore wind. The animals would surface & spout three or four times in a row and would then make a long dive coming up quite a distance to the north.