Gray Whales from Shore.....

I headed to work this morning via Hwy 1... Not even a 1/4 mile down Hwy 1, I came across a blow in the distance... 1/4 to 1/2 mile further south, I saw two more blows, so I thought if I had some time, I would take a walk on the beach and see if I see any whales.. Later, I arrived at the beach and within 10 minutes I saw a blow in the distance heading "north"... Nice timing.. I kept looking and looking, but didn't see anymore blows, but I knew I saw one. Thirty minutes later I finally saw another blow with another blow (there were two whales)... Once they reached the point, there were three whales, but they were staying down 10-15 minutes, and only surfaced for 2-3 blows each cycle. Ughhh, that makes it tough to track. While I was waiting for their third surface, another whale appeared, but was a small one (juvenile) that was probably born last year... Again, in an hour, I saw it twice - very difficult to track as it stayed down for long periods barely showing itself when it surfaced. All those whales left the area... I never really did see their blows in the distance "north" of me, but that wasn't too surprising. About 15-20 minutes later, another whale appeared - another juvi. This one was a little easier to track, but still had some long down times until it left the area, then it surfaced often with good blows. This juvi and the earlier three took their time moving out of the area... I needed to leave by now, so I headed back to the car, but saw another blow, so of course, I turned around and went back to watch this one go by, but it was just as difficult as the others - long down times, barely surfaced, but even more difficult to track. I saw it once in 35 minutes and by then, another whale came through the area quite fast with just a few blows. I left... I hope to see the cow / calf pairs when they start their migration back to Alaska (Bering Sea).