The Sea Monkeys Of Seal Beach

Courtesy of WOWSA, Seal Beach, California.

International Swimming Hall of Fame honorees Lynne Cox, Cindy Cleveland and Penny Dean, and their famed open water swimming coach Siga Rose have trained in Seal Beach, California since their heyday in the 1970’s.

According to Pat West, City Manager of Long Beach, “English Channel swimmers, Catalina Channel swimmers and people from all over have trained here.”

Site of the Seal Beach Rough Water Swim since 1969, Seal Beach is also the training grounds for the Sea Monkeys, a group of dedicated open water swimmers who have been regularly gathering for an early morning swim for years. “We call ourselves the Sea Monkeys. We all just got together and it has continued to grow. We swim from April to November. Every year we start our season earlier and earlier and end it later and later. Wetsuits are optional. When new swimmers show up, we swim with them and then break off in groups once we hit the end of the pier.”

With the Queen Mary and the skyline of Long Beach immediately to the north and Catalina Island easily visible on most days, Seal Beach is an ideal site for the next generation of swimmers who are following in the footsteps of those famed swimmers of the 1970’s. “We have guys like Hank Wise (shown on left), a local legend, now joining us and our numbers are growing.”

Started by a local Navy SEAL, the Sea Monkeys are another one of the hundreds of open water swim teams that are popping up around the world.

There is certainly no monkeying around when these swimmers hit the shore.

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