Without question, the most populated part of Salton Sea is the area known as Bombay Beach. Bombay Beach sits on the eastern shore, just about halfway between the northern and southern most extremes of the Sea. It has a population of only 295 people.
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| Civilization. Well, sort of... |
The one thing that you're constantly reminded of here is that, well, it just doesn't get any cooler, and it can always get hotter. By the time we got to Bombay Beach, it had climbed above 100 degrees, and the mercury continued to climb:
Bombay Beach is a photographer's paradise. Unfettered access to the shoreline affords some great opportunities to get some striking images. These images aren't always pretty, mind you, but they're images that you're just not going to get anywhere else in the world:
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Dead fish can be found along the entire shoreline of the Salton Sea.
The high salinity levels make survival, at best, difficult... |
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| Salt-encrusted dock pilings in Bombay Beach... |
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| Algae creates the reddish/rust hue in the water. Submerged is a plastic chair that's covered in salt... |
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| Salt-encrusted dock pilings in Bombay Beach... |
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| A long-neglected staircase to the beach... |
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| Bombay Beach is not immune to having an abundance of abandoned, neglected buildings... |
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| At some point, someone was, obviously, living here... |
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| It's good to have dreams... |
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| An outhouse in Bombay Beach... |
By the time we'd gotten about an hour's worth of shooting in, we were pretty much famished. We hadn't had anything since the culinary delight that masqueraded as breakfast, so we decided to head over to The Ski Inn.
My dear friend Holt Webb first told me about The Ski Inn, and strongly recommended it. I figured his recommendation was based on the fact that the food was hot, the beer was cold and the prices were good. Fifteen minutes in Bombay Beach, though, taught me that his recommendation was made based solely on the fact that you simply can't buy hot food and cold beer anywhere else in town, at any price.
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| The Ski Inn in Bombay Beach... |
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| And this is how you know you're here... |
One of the customs at The Ski Inn is the hanging of a dollar somewhere in the bar. You can't just tape a dollar to the wall, though. No, that just won't do. You have to create something; some "art" before you're permitted to play with the scotch tape. The bartender, Steve, brings over a glass full of neon colored markers for you to create your masterpiece with. Well, I don't know anything about any "masterpiece", but I do think I adequately commemorated our trek around the Salton Sea:
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| My dollar bill on the door of The Ski Inn... |
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My mug, with dollar bills on the ceiling of The Ski Inn...
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Ed and I both got a beer and a bacon cheeseburger with rings on the side. Something just told me that we didn't want to venture too far outside the box on our dining choices. While the burger left something to be desired with regards to its appearance, it tasted great, and the cold beer topped it off nicely.
Before we left, Ed decided he had to go souvenir shopping. Considering that Bombay Beach doesn't have a wealth of souvenir stores, he did what anyone would've done, that being to do his shopping at the bar:
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| They have them, you know... |
Fully rested and fed, it was time for us to leave Bombay Beach behind and head, once again, south on Highway 111. We still had a few hours of daylight left, and we wanted to exploit them by seeing as much as we could.
And there was still a lot to see...
I love that place!
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