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 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)

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A gray whale was spotted inside of the Newport Harbor 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 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 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 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 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 makes it’s way around Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach after leaving Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday, August 8th. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)

A juvenile Gray whale makes it’s way around Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach after leaving Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday, August 8th. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)

A juvenile Gray whale makes it’s way around Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach after leaving Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday, August 8th. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)



A Gray whale is seen in Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 (Photo courtesy of the OC Sheriff’s Dept. Harbor Patrol)

A Gray whale swims in Dana Point, on Tuesday, August 8, 2017.

A Gray whale is seen in Dana Point Harbor during Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in Dana Point, on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. (Photo courtesy dolphin safari.com)

A Gray whale is seen in Dana Point Harbor during Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in Dana Point, on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. (Photo courtesy dolphin safari.com)

A Gray whale is seen in Dana Point Harbor during Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in Dana Point, on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. (Photo courtesy dolphin safari.com)



At this rate, it’s going to be a long time before this whale gets to Alaska.

Two days after a juvenile gray whale made its way into Dana Point Harbor, then came up close to shore near swimmers in Laguna Beach, it has been spotted in Newport Harbor.

Newport Coastal Adventure captain Taylor Thorne saw the more than 20-foot whale cruising around far into the harbor on Thursday, Aug. 10, an “extremely rare occurrence,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be in Alaska right now,” he said. “And it is far from Alaska.”

The whale could be the same one seen inside the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad Monday.

Thorne said it was behaving normally, though it looked skinny.

“It was a small animal, definitely not fully grown,” he said.

He said he spotted the whale near Lido Island, and “it was heading straight toward Hoag Hospital.”

Gray whales have the longest migration of any mammal on Earth, making their way from Baja – where they spend winter months giving birth – up north to Alaska.

Most have already passed the area and are at their summertime destination.

“I don’t know what it’s doing,” he said. “It’s just going deeper and deeper into the harbor.”

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who runs the American Cetacean Society’s Los Angeles Chapter Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at Point Vicente off Palos Verdes, confirmed the whale is the same one that thrilled onlookers and led the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol and a group of stand-up paddle boarders on laps through Dana Point Harbor just two days ago.

“It’s definitely the same whale,” she said, after matching up a photo taken this afternoon with a screen grab from a video taken Tuesday. “We matched it by distinctive white spots on the back and side.”

Schulman-Janiger said while some people have said the whale is lost, its behavior is more on of exploration. She also dispelled the notion that the whale is emaciated, saying it is skinny but not sickly looking. There are no bone or skeletal structures showing.

“It’s not unusual for whales to harbor hop,” she said. “Maybe he found it fun on Tuesday in Dana Point and is doing it again.”

By mid-afternoon, the whale had passed the mooring area of the harbor and appeared to be going out with the tide.

Mark Girardeau, who had spotted the whale leaving Dana Point Harbor Tuesday afternoon and left it as it headed past Emerald Bay in Laguna, went to look for it later that night. Though he didn’t find it, he said he was told by others it still remained in the harbor near Lido Island.

Newport Sea Base captain Robert Sloan was out in a boat when he spotted the whale and contacted employees inside the education center about the rare sight. Melissa De Leon, education coordinator at the Newport Sea Base, and a group of summer camp kids, ran out to the docks to see the whale.

“It was just cruising through the harbor here, it didn’t seem injured,” De Leon said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a whale. Every once in a while we’ll get a dolphin or sea lions. We’re pretty far up the harbor here, we don’t usually see any larger animals here.”

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Stranding Coordinator Justin Viezbicke said there are no efforts to try to usher the whale out of the harbor. Efforts were being made to help an entangled sea lion in Newport Beach.

“Really not much we can do with the whale,” he said via text.

He noted that it’s best to give the whale space “as close approach can be stressful to whale,” especially in confined spaces like harbors.