Dawn at El Porto

There wasn’t much in the way of waves this morning at El Porto.  At least not enough to try any water shots so I settled for snapping a few shots from the beach and then caught a few waves on my longboard.

Waves are supposed to pick up this evening and stay big over the weekend, but we’re also supposed to get some rain so who knows what the conditions will be like.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to try my hand at the water shots again tomorrow.

El Porto, looking south

El Porto, looking north

First Water Shots

This morning, I grabbed a couple waves then switched out my board for some swim fins and a waterproof camera.  A friend let me borrow his Canon Powershot SD700 IS with a waterproof housing so that I could try my hand at some shots of waves.  I have to say that I had an absolute blast being in the water with that camera.

I was trying to get a picture from inside the tube, but this was my first outing with a water camera so I found it to be a bit harder than I expected.  While I personally got barreled a few times, I didn’t capture the images to prove it.  I’ll give it a shot again tomorrow if the waves cooperate.

Here my 1st attempt at a tube shot plus another couple pictures of waves from the opposite perspective.

1st Attemp at Tube Shot

An Empty Wave

Another Empty Wave

Urban Oasis

It’s nice to know that even in a big metropolis like Los Angeles, you can still find a couple places where you can get away from the crowd.

Urban Oasis

Low Tide Sunset

While it wasn’t the mega low minus tide we had last Sunday, we did have a 0.06 ft low tide and it happened just after sundown which was a cool thing.  I took my son, Nate, down to the beach and saw all sorts of cool seashells and sand dollars.  I nabbed a shot of a sand dollar while Nate was busy hunting for sea shells.

There were too many clouds on the horizon for the entire sky to get lit up, but about 15 minutes after the sun went down, we did finally get a little color.

Sand Dollar

Nate at a zero tide

Tanker after sunset

The Jetty

The Jetty.  That’s pretty much how most locals refer to it.  I guess if you want to be more specific you could call it the jetty at Middles, but if you just called it The Jetty, most every surfer from Manhattan Beach to Ballona Creek would know what you were referring to.  This is the biggest jetty between Playa del Rey and Palos Verdes and also seems to get the biggest waves in the South Bay during any winter swell.

There is no convenient parking for this location.  Wherever you park, you’re looking at about a half mile hike to get there.  Maybe that’s the reason why I’ve put off shooting this particular jetty.  Every other place, I was able to park my car and walk across the beach to get the shot.  Now that I’ve shot this one, I can take a break from shooting piers and jetties for a while.

If you want to see this place breaking on a big day, check out this YouTube video of Tyler Hatzikian.

The Jetty, Perspective 1

The Jetty, Perspective 2

The Jetty, Perspective 3

The Redondo Beach Pier

I’ve always called this the Redondo Beach Pier or the Redondo Pier.  I guess I never noticed the sign that simply refers to it as “THE PIER”.  I’ve got nothing against Redondo Beach or its pier.  It’s a nice town and the pier is a pretty fun destination every once in a while.  But I think it’s a little lame for the town to call its pier, “THE PIER” especially when there are so many other lovely piers within a short drive.  In fact, if you do a Google search for “THE PIER”, the Redondo Pier isn’t on any of the first few pages of image results.  I think the folks that decided to make the sign should have done some focus group testing or checked Google before referring to their pier as “THE PIER”.

The Redondo Pier, Perspective 1

The Redondo Pier, Perspective 2

The Redondo Pier, Perspective 3

The Sign for The Pier