A gray whale was spotted inside of the Newport Harbor on Thursday, two days after it was seen in Dana Point Harbor. (Chelsea Mayer/ Davey’s Locker Whale Watching)

A juvenile gray whale was seen in the shallow waters of Newport Harbor’s Back Bay left the harbor and headed to the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday, Aug. 16. (Photo courtesy of Diane E. Alps)

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A juvenile gray whale was seen in the shallow waters of Newport Harbor’s Back Bay has left the harbor and was spotted leaving the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday, Aug. 16. (Photo courtesy of Diane E. Alps)



HUNTINGTON BEACH — A juvenile gray whale that seemed finally to be heading north on its migration toward Alaska apparently has made a U-turn. On Tuesday, Aug. 22, it was spotted by a worker who was doing maintenance on a bridge at Edinger Street in Huntington Harbor.

After departing from the shallow waters of Newport Beach Harbor Back Bay on Tuesday, Aug. 15, it was seen along the breakwater in the direction of the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles on Aug. 16. Two days later, Diane Alps, vice president of the Channel Island Cetacean Research Unit, spotted it near the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

The whale explored the Cabrillo Wetlands on Saturday and was observed by Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who runs the American Cetacean Society’s Los Angeles Chapter Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Twice the approximately 20-foot animal became stranded briefly during low tides, she said.

On Sunday, Aug. 20 it moved further north within the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor. It was seen in Los Alamitos Bay on Monday, Aug. 21.

Whale experts hoped the whale was continuing its journey to the Bering Sea. But instead, it started heading back toward Orange County, and was seen Tuesday in Huntington Beach Harbor.

The bridge worker informed the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol at around 10 a.m. Tuesday that the whale was trying to swim into the shallower waters of the harbor and then turned back out.

Justin Viezbicke, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, knew of the report of the whale in Huntington Harbor.

“The prognosis hasn’t changed for us,” Viezbicke said. “The whale’s body condition indicates that it is emaciated and due to its current location and distance from significant foraging grounds the chances for survival for this whale are unfortunately low.”

Viezbicke said the whale’s behavior isn’t really the problem, it’s just that it’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We really won’t know for sure unless the whale strands and dies and we can do a full necropsy to take a look,” he said.

While the whale’s chances of making it to Alaska seem slim, it still could survive, said Schulman-Janiger.

“The best chance this whale has is if it continues to feed,” Schulman-Janiger said. She advised: “Swimmers, boarders and paddle boarders should stay away.”