Whale wanders into waters of Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor, attracting onlookers

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- A majestic whale made its way into the waters of Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor on Thursday morning, attracting onlookers near the Catalina Express dock and online.

Video from AIR7 showed the massive marine mammal loitering around 10 a.m. in the area near Golden Shore Drive and Shoreline Village, across from the Queen Mary, and it was still there more than an hour later. How long the whale had been in the harbor was unclear.

Chelsea Quezada, a spokesperson for the nearby Aquarium of the Pacific, confirmed it was a minke whale.

More than 3,000 ABC7 viewers tuned into livestreams that showed the whale on social media.

"An incredible sight!" one viewer wrote on Facebook. "Nature's beauty at its finest!"

Another wrote on YouTube: "As someone who grew up there and lived around there until I was 30, it's not the norm to see whales there."