Santa Monica Bay

We had a bit of a rocky night at anchor in Paradise Cove, but it was a nice place to tuck in before making the trek across Santa Monica Bay.  Not to take anything away from the incredibly plush homes on shore, the most amazing thing about our stay was the impressive phosphorescence.  Tiny critters live in the water and when they are disturbed they put off green sparkles of light.  The light is called phosphorescence.  It is very common to see, particularly when flushing the head (toilet) or in the wake of the dinghy.  However, the phosphorescence in Paradise Cove was the most intense we had ever seen.  Late at night we went on deck and the fish swimming around the boat were creating glowing patches of water all around us.  It was pretty amazing to see.

The next morning we headed to Kings Harbor in Redondo Beach.  Foggy, chilly and uneventful until were about three miles from our destination.  About a hundred yards ahead, we saw our first blue whale.  It was truly awesome.  We’ve seen many whales, primarily humpbacks, pilots and grays.  This whale looked like a freight train coming out of the water – it just kept coming.

In Kings Harbor, we anchored behind the sea wall and put out a stern anchor to keep us from swinging against the wall as the winds shift during the night.  This was nerve racking and we checked our position every couple of hours.  The next morning, our friend Chuck came for a visit and to give us a hand provisioning.  We met Chuck through an ad we posted for crew to Mexico and he will be helping us sail the boat to Cabo in the Baja Ha-Ha boat rally.  He is an airline pilot and stopped by before going to work at LAX.  Thanks to Chuck, we hit Trader Joes, filled a propane tank, mailed letters, picked up some boat stuff, and got the five star tour of Redondo Beach.