Well hound dogs , it’s getting hot in SoCal . The days and the nights are creeping into their 6 month sojourn of summer . It’s day 52 of lockdown .When this lockdown began it rained for the first week . The thought of being trapped inside was depressing , but it wasn’t that bad . Even as the weather improved the lockdown didn’t dampen spirits too much , but over the last few days the heat and the close vicinity to the beach has made it tougher . Not to worry . May 18 ,the beach will reopen to water users . Finally , surfing , one of the few outlets available will once again be viable . Of course over the duration of the quarantine the surf has done its thing . It’s been pumping consistently for weeks on end ,and that doesn’t happen too often over here .
The smell this morning was intense . I threw the garbage out early , as I could smell the bin in the kitchen . Still , 10 minutes later it didn’t fade , in fact it grew stronger . I blamed it on the construction site in the lane way . I closed the back door ,but the waft of rotting materials kept sweeping through the house . I went to the front door to see if I could smell it there too . I could , but this time it was mixed with salt . Then it dawned on me .Its the ocean . An unusual event has occurred in the South bay waters . There’s an algal bloom that has turned the water a rusty red , actually it’s the colour of the Yarra river in Melbourne . With a bit of swell and an incoming tide the briny broth floated its pong right through the neighbourhood. Last year it also turned up , but it stayed off shore and wasn’t any where as rich . It turns out the rain at the start of lockdown helped cultivate a red algal bloom . There’s a positive to the waters looking and smelling like a shit farm , bioluminescence. At. night the waves turn fluorescent blue . The phytoplankton emit light when stirred up . The thing is , the beaches are closed . Even when I stood at my lookout spot to look at the surf I had a woman drive up to give me the eye . She made it abundantly clear that I was to not step on the sand . I laughed and shook my head .
. Emma , Leroy and myself walked down the end of the street at 830 pm . We intended to stop at the top of the stairs looking over to life guard tower 28 . Hopefully we could see the blue waves . When we got there there were others with the same idea . Cars pulled up , families , teenagers ,anybody . We were all coming down . Geezus , there it is . A shimmering blue roller glides down beneath the sand . As is it slides by it lights up the bodies on the sand . There’s people on the beach ,in the dark , out of sight on the shoreline . That’s all I need . I’m out there too . By the time I get to the shoreline I can see people all down the line spread along the shore . Surely its safe in numbers if security turns up looking to hand $1000 fines . Only problem is I’ve done my hammy , so I won’t be running for it . Not to worry , there’s no threat tonight . I did think I could video it live on Facebook but I realised my camera showed nothing but blackness . Ahh well I’ll take a photo and show you that instead , but my old IPhone 6 couldn’t pick up the blue either . Eventually a bit of editing revealed exactly what it looked like .Red tide during the day ….blue wonder at night . 12 days time I’ll be floating in it . Bring on May 18 …….Stay healthy hound dogs .
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