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This Great White Feeding Will Give you Something to Ponder On Your Next Swim...
Very crimson water, courtesy of a Great White, San Francisco Bay. Screen Grab from video by Chris Hindler. With the caption “Guess we know what happened to the few escapees…” YouTube user Chris...
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Buenos Días El Niño – Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes off Southern California – and...
A yellow bellied sea snake found and photographed by Robert Forbes on the beach at Oxnard. Photo: Robert Forbes. In California, the 2015-16 El Niño continues its strange and ominous march towards the...
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A 1970 Home Movie. From Hollywood to Beverly Hills, San Clemente and...
My Dad, Jobie Dixon, on the beach with a horde of surfers in San Clemente, Summer, 1970. Screen Grab from an 8mm home movie. I reckon 1970 was a pretty good year for my parents. My dad, Jobie Dixon,...
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The Blob: How A Long, Strange Influx of Warm Water is Changing West Coast...
Recreational fishing has had a gangbuster season in San Diego, thanks to the presence of tropical fish not normally found in those waters, like the bluefin tuna shown here. Photo by Point Lomo...
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“Release All the Big Ones.” Night Diving with Giant Spiny Lobsters off...
“Got a nice eight-pound lobster here. Release all the big ones.” That’s not something you’re likely to hear anywhere in the world (regarding lobster, at least). Screenshot from video below. Spiny...
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Life In Salt. Talking Story with Barbarian Days Author William Finnegan, Part...
William Finnegan. Portrait of the author as a young man. Photo from Barbarian Days, courtesy: William Finnegan. Editor’s Note. Last week, I fired up Skype for a chat with author and longtime New...
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“He thought it was Wonderful. I Thought it was Absolutely Horrifying.”...
William Finnegan. Surfing Ocean Beach. Photo from Barbarian Playing Doc’s Games, The New Yorker, 1992. Editor’s Note. Last week, I fired up Skype for a chat with author and longtime New Yorker...
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William Finnegan: Surf for Love, Not for Gold
THE New England missionaries who began arriving in Hawaii in 1820 were horrified to find, as they sailed in, people surfing. “Some of our number, with gushing tears, turned away from the spectacle,”...
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Stay Tuned for a New Film Series of Never Told Stories About California’s...
Screen shot from the new film series about the history of California’s Channel Islands. A recent Kickstarter campaign to bring short films about the West of the West: Tales from California’s Channel...
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Wish You Were Here: The Lemperle Residence, La Jolla, California
Photo credit: The Lemperle Residence / Jonathan Segal FAIA/© Paul Body. I’ve spent my fair share of time in La Jolla, but this is one room from the likes of which, I assure you, I’ve never peeped a...
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“The Ocean is a Scary Beautiful Place.” Life in Salt: Karim Iliya on Travel,...
“For me, it’s about seeing things, and the camera is just a machine. I just use that machine to show people how I view existence.” Photo: Krannichfeld Photography/Courtesy of Karim Iliya. At just 24...
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. . . And Now, A Whale-Riding Sea Lion off Baja California
Screenshot from the video below. Sea lions have been recorded doing some remarkable things, not least of which eating sharks. Now, we can (officially) add gray whale-riding to their repertoire. One...
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“It was the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done.” Back in Salt: Living to Surf Again,...
Photo courtesy of Henry Skipp. Henry Skipp was the brightest, most interesting and articulate mind I encountered during my collegiate years. He was also my best friend. We were both pursuing higher...
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A Surfboard Made from John Steinbeck’s House? Ventana Surfboards and Supplies...
Ventana’s stunning 6’0″ Cannery Row – made from wood that once adorned John Steinbeck’s cottage in Pacific Grove. Image courtesy Ventana Surfboards and Supplies. I was first introduced to Ventana...
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“Basso Profundo.” A Big, Merciless Late Fall Day at William Finnegan’s Ocean...
Screenshot from Chris Wilson’s video below. San Francisco’s vast and featureless Ocean Beach produces frothing, pitching walls of water worthy of your worst nightmares. Big waves, cold, ominously gray...
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“I was Just a General Prick.” Barbarian Days Author William Finnegan on...
Ed’s note: This is the final entry in a four-part interview with Barbarian Days author William Finnegan. You’ll find links to all the interviews at the end of this one. “But everything felt different...
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Wish You Were Here: Traveling the Lost Coast, Northern California
Somewhere along the northern reaches of California State Highway One. Photo: Owen James Burke. There are few places left on earth as rife with life as Northern California’s Lost Coast. Several years...
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A Little Tribute to my Late, Great Friend Sean Collins – via NPR’s Science...
Sean Collins with one of his early hand-drawn maps of swell, reef and bathymetry. Photo: Chris Dixon It’s damned difficult for me to believe, but it’s been four years since surf forecaster Sean...
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A Thanks to Brian Lam, Matt Warshaw, Jeremy Spencer, Chronicle Books – and...
My first ever rejection letter. Courtesy of Surfer Magazine and Matt Warshaw. 1989. It’s weird the stuff you decide to file in your folder book of memories. The above note is one such recently found...
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Goodbye (for now)
Coming in 2017. A big book from your ocean loving friends at The Scuttlefish and Chronicle Books. Hey all, after a few years, hundreds of weird and interesting stories, and a lot of fun it’s time to...
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