Wine barrels and cotton bales washed ashore on beaches across the Central Coast this weekend.
During her regular Saturday afternoon walk by the Oceano Dunes, Heather Allen of Grover Beach saw more than just waves and surfers as mysterious barrels were bobbing in the ocean. They appeared to have been in the water for quite some time.
“Rust, barnacles and mussels growing on it,” Allen described.
She pulled a barrel from the ocean.
“I wanted to make sure there was no dead body inside and then if there had been any pirate treasure, that would have been cool,” Allen said.
She says they were all hollow and light so she decided to bring one of them back to her house and while there was a little disappointment, she was also relieved.
“There's nothing. When we turn it over, it's completely bone dry but it does have the aroma of some really good whiskey,” Allen said.
The California Highway Patrol responded to reports of a large object wrapped in plastic and labeled Cotton USA that washed ashore in Cayucos.
After hearing about the unusual objects on social media, Carol Pedraita of Cayucos decided to try to find one herself and did just that Sunday at the Morro Bay Dog Beach.
Pedraita says the cotton was covered in blue plastic and around three feet tall and a couple yards wide.
“I checked it out and it appeared to be a bale of cotton. Now it looks like someone has taken it apart,” Pedraita said.
According to the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol, a barrel also popped up in north Morro Bay over the weekend and nearby, a cotton bale was also located.
The Harbor Patrol calls this extremely rare.
KSBY reached out to multiple agencies on Monday in hopes of learning where these items came from.
A California Highway Patrol officer said a ship lost its load in early November of 2023 during storms.
Now, about four months later, those items are washing ashore.
CHP adds that other barrels and bales also washed ashore at other locations, including San Simeon.
