A Whale of a Holiday Party

Santa Cruz's Ms. Blue will once again be done up in bright bulbs.

A WHALE AND SOME WHIMSY: When we see footage of a behemoth, blow-hole-y mammal swimming beneath the surface of the ocean, it is, spoiler alert, rather light (otherwise we wouldn't be able to discern the aforementioned blowhole, nor the fluke, nor the other parts of the whale). There needs to be some sort of sunlight filtering through the water to illuminate the beautiful beastie, and that light is often refracted as it meets H20, creating a sparkly, gorgeous, and whale-enhancing backdrop. But there's another place where light meets the world's biggest mammals, and it doesn't happen during a submerged, ocean-gurgly documentary shoot. It's on land, at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center of Santa Cruz, and the light + whale meet-up happens in the area where the center's phenomenal blue whale skeleton, Ms. Blue, is located. Nope, it isn't refracted watery light illuminating Ms. Blue, but rather blue bulbs that give the massive and magnificent bones their definition after dark. Have to eye this wonder for yourself? See Ms. Blue lit up on...

SUNDAY, DEC. 11, which happens to be the date for the center's annual Jingle Shells Arts and Crafts Festival. Shop the "ocean-themed gifts," and know that the "proceeds directly support marine science education." There shall be live tunes, there shall be touch pool access, there shall be the sipping of hot cider (which, truth be told, is rather in short supply out in the ocean, but it does fill a reveler with warmth and cheer). And reigning over it all? The lit-up wonder that is Ms. Blue. If you yourself rather like hanging holiday lights, but don't see erecting an 87-foot blue whale skeleton in your yard, best call upon the water-wonderful marine center to celebrate one of the season's most special sights.

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