This post is out of order but was overlooked over the winter. A fun place to visit in Southern California is the community of Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea. I have posted about the Salton Sea a number of times now. At 223 feet below sea level, Bombay Beach is at the lowest altitude of any community in the USA. Once a thriving beach community, when water levels in the Salton Sea started declining and saline concentrations started increasing in the 1980’s, Bombay Beach declined in popularity and population. In recent years the location has seen a bit of a resurgence as an artist community. Part of the fun of visiting Bombay Beach is to view the large number of art installation scattered around the community. These installations are constantly evolving with some being removed and others being added. Every time I have visited there have been new things to see.
I had a bit of fun lining up this image of the boat with the “shark” swimming nearby. The boat was very close to the shore so I wanted an angle where I could get as much water as possible in front of the boat while including the “shark fin” in a “menacing” position.
While wandering around on the beach itself, I found a number of installations that were new to me. A few of those are shown below.
A major issue with the Salton Sea over the years has been the drop in water level, which in turn has caused an increase in salinity. I noticed on my recent trip that several installations that had previously been surrounded by water were now near or on dry land. One such example was a pyramid that I photographed 3 years ago (the image is in the Landscape Gallery of www.neilmillerphotography.com). The image on the left was taken 3 years ago. You can see the pyramid is surrounded by water. For the image on the right, I tried to place myself at approximately the same location as I took the earlier photo from. I didn’t have the original photo with me so I had to rely on memory to position myself as best I could. While not the exact location, it was close enough for comparison purposes. The difference is obvious.
In the townsite itself, I came across a sign on the roof of a building which perhaps is a poignant message for this once dying community.
If you are visiting the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs and other nearby cities), Bombay Beach is well worth a visit.
Wind At Your Back 
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