Malibu Monster Catches a Wave

The creature in the ocean off Malibu looked mysterious--its head rising and falling and its gaze unwavering as the cold waves surged beneath it.

But when Sonja Murania raced from the ocean, quivering and covered with goose bumps, the strange sea serpent was not doing the chasing. The 65-degree water temperature was.

“This is not the Caribbean,” the Malibu woman shivered. “Of course, you don’t see a dragon floating in the middle of the Pacific every day, either.”

Its scales are made of plywood and its eyes are only painted on. But the 10-foot-long sea monster about a mile west of the Malibu Pier has been causing wide-eyed double takes for days, say beachfront residents.

The phony serpent is attached to rafts anchored 250 feet offshore by homeowner Rob MacLeod. He hopes that its slither will brighten spirits that are often fogged in this time of year.

“It’s a summer smile, a fantasy, something to pick up your spirits as you drive by,” said MacLeod, a commercial developer who has lived at the beach for eight years.

Travelers on Pacific Coast Highway can catch a fleeting glimpse of the serpent through a small canyon. That is enough to leave them scratching their heads over what they think they saw.

Beach-goers such as picnicking John and Pat Walters of Agoura Hills hike past celebrities’ beachfront estates to view it.

“A police helicopter went by a few minutes ago and all of a sudden made a sharp turn and dropped down for a closer look,” recalled beach resident Joe Feldman, who says he has never seen anything like the creature in his 18 years at the ocean’s edge.

MacLeod, 47, said the sea serpent is an outgrowth of a raft with an island theme that he anchored offshore during summer months for the past four years. At first, a wooden palm tree was all that was attached to it. But beach towels and a mannequin were added the second year; last year, a plywood octopus was bolted on.

Storm waves destroyed the raft at the end of last summer before MacLeod could call a tow truck company to haul it on shore for the winter.

Architects Ross Andrews and Torgen Johnson have helped design the evolving raft, MacLeod said. It was built by volunteers Lelani Johnson and Eric Kowel and painted by MacLeod and his children, Remy, 9, and Cutter, 3.

“Somebody stopped me yesterday and just to thank me for it,” MacLeod said. “There is always a divergent opinion on most things in Malibu. But this seems to be the one thing that everyone seems to agree is just fun.”

The only disagreement might come from Malibu’s pelicans. A system of nylon strings and bright colors scares the messy birds away from the sea serpent. Otherwise, the raft “could be smelled clear up on shore,” he said.

Authorities have checked anchor chains holding the creature in place in the 25-foot-deep water and pronounced them secure, he said.

But the monster’s future is not secure past Labor Day, MacLeod said.

“Next year, I think we’ll have porpoises,” he said.