With a full head of steam, mom leads her calf (not shown) from the kelp into the wind and open water towards Point Conception. She’s hungry and wants to get calf number 240 on a faster track to Alaska.

Two miles ahead is another Cow/calf pair that passed us earlier. Perhaps, they are her carrot for the time being.

The wind came up quickly, and we closed down at seven minutes to two.

Gray whales northbound (all) 4 | Calves 2 — 2015 Count 1406 | 240

Hours 4:53