Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

SeaWorld at El Porto

Location: El Porto beach ( north end), Los Angeles, CA

Time: Morning ( Approx. 7:20am–9am)

Conditions: 1–2' waves, medium, rising tide, light offshore winds, clear water

Equipment: 8' Almond R-Series

Company: No one I know

It was a beautiful Southern California morning on the water! With a termite inspection meeting scheduled at the house for 11:30am, I decided to take the morning off and go for a surf. The waves were smaller than I would have liked, but if any LA spot would be surfable today it was El Porto. Pulled into the parking lot around 7am and paddled out near the south end of the rock wall in front of the refinery. As far as the surf, it was a slow morning. I did catch a couple decent ones early on but as the tide rose things just got slower. The local marine life put on a good show with a pair of barking sea lions hanging out in a trough on the inside, presumably hunting for fish while seabirds, including brown pelicans, made a splash nearby. Later on, I got an up close encounter with a pair of bottlenose dolphins swimming right at me as they surfed a wave as I was paddling back out. The water was clear and beautiful!