Gray whale still hanging out in Newport’s Back Bay

The 20-foot juvenile gray whale that showed up in Newport Harbor last week is making itself at home in the Back Bay, officials said Monday.

The whale was most recently seen in the Back Bay on Sunday, where it has been hanging out since Friday, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol.

Harbor Patrol officials said they still don’t plan to try to coax the whale back into the ocean.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration advised the Harbor Patrol to let the whale swim around on its own until it finds its way out of the harbor.

Newport Coastal Adventure captain Taylor Thorne, who was among the first to see the whale just before noon Thursday as it cruised up the main harbor channel toward Lido Isle, said he suspects it’s the same whale that was seen in Dana Point Harbor on Tuesday and that it’s trying to make its way up the coast.

Gray whales, which have the longest migration of any mammal, usually spend the summer feeding on plankton off Alaska. In the fall, they migrate to warmer waters off Baja California.

It’s not clear why this one stopped in Newport Beach when most of its fellow whales already had made their way through the area.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN