87 feet of bones, a little shrimp-shell putty, and some brilliant local minds bring Ms. Blue back to life.
Halloween is upon us, and skeletons are popping up on lawns all over Monterey Bay. Some are six feet tall. A few overachieving neighbors have gone for twelve.
Santa Cruz, naturally, has an 87-footer.
Meet Ms. Blue, the enormous blue whale skeleton outside UC Santa Cruz’s Seymour Marine Discovery Center. She’s arguably the most spectacular collection of bones on the Central Coast. And unlike your neighbor’s plastic skeleton, she doesn’t get packed away in November.
In fact, she’s getting a homecoming party.
A Whale of a Restoration
Ms. Blue’s story began in 1979, when a blue whale washed ashore at Pescadero Beach. UC Santa Cruz scientists and students recovered her bones, eventually mounting the skeleton at Long Marine Laboratory in 1985. She’s been inspiring generations of curious children and adults ever since.
Unfortunately, living beside the Pacific Ocean is hard on the complexion. Even when you’re already dead.
Decades of salt air, wind, and weather cracked bones and corroded her supporting structure. In 2023, parts of the skeleton had to be lowered before the whole thing became an extremely unfortunate game of giant Jenga.
But rather than simply patching her up with conventional materials, the Seymour Center decided to make the restoration itself an experiment in sustainability.
And this is where things get wonderfully Santa Cruz.
Shrimp shells became bone putty. UC Santa Cruz professor Marco Rolandi and his students developed a repair material using substances derived from discarded shrimp shells. Apparently, one creature’s leftovers can help preserve another creature’s skeleton.
Hospital waste became whale bones. Local company Swell Cycle, better known for 3D-printing surfboards, worked on creating replacement bones using recycled plastic hospital trays. From medical waste to marine monument. That’s a rather impressive career change for a piece of plastic.
And the skeleton got a custom cradle. Dinosaur Valley Studios designed a support system to cradle Ms. Blue’s vertebrae without drilling into or damaging the bones.
It’s a beautiful intersection of marine biology, materials science, engineering, craftsmanship, and good old-fashioned local resourcefulness.
More Than a Whale
The restoration reflects something bigger happening at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
The center is increasingly becoming a place where the public doesn’t just learn about science but gets to see science happening—where researchers, entrepreneurs, students, and neighbors can explore problems and solutions together.
Ms. Blue is a fitting ambassador for that idea.
She was saved by a community of scientists nearly half a century ago. Now another generation is applying technologies that barely existed when she first went on display.
The Seymour Center’s new Seymour Studios is also telling her story through a documentary series on YouTube, introducing viewers to the people, history, and ingenuity behind the restoration.
November 8th Is Ms. Blue Day
The City of Santa Cruz has declared Sunday, November 8, Ms. Blue Day, and the Seymour Center is throwing a Marine Science Festival to celebrate her return.
Expect hands-on science, whale-bone restoration activities, researchers who actually know what they’re talking about, live music, a community mural, puppet shows, local food, and plenty of family-friendly discoveries.
The welcome ceremony begins at 11 a.m., and festivities continue until 3 p.m.
The details:
- When: Sunday, November 8, 2026, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
- Where: Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz
- Admission: $15 adults, $10 youth; the 11 a.m. welcome ceremony is free.
- Event information: Marine Science Fest: Ms. Blue Returns
- Learn more about Ms. Blue: Seymour Marine Discovery Center
At KRML, we love stories like this. Not because an 87-foot skeleton is particularly easy to overlook, but because of the people behind it—neighbors who see a challenge and decide to invent a better solution.
A little scientific curiosity. Some recycled plastic. A few shrimp shells. And a community that refuses to let a beloved old whale fade away.
Apparently, in Santa Cruz, even the skeletons believe in second chances.
KRML 94.7 FM — Human-curated music. Community-curated stories.