Bodega Bay
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Bodega Bay is a small shallow, sand-choked inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately 5 miles (8 km) across and is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of San Francisco and 20 miles (32 km) west of Santa Rosa. The bay straddles the boundary between Sonoma (north) and Marin (south) counties.
Bodega Bay is protected on its north end from the Pacific Ocean by Bodega Head, which shelters the small Bodega Harbor, separated from the main bay by a small spit of land. The San Andreas Fault runs parallel to the coastline and bisects Bodega Head - the Head lies on the Pacific Plate while the town is on the North American Plate. The village of Bodega Bay sits on the eastern side of Bodega Harbor. The bay connects on its south end to the mouth of Tomales Bay.
Bodega Bay was discovered in 1775 by the Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, after whom it is named. The Bay was the site of a Russian fur trading post established in 1811 and was an active harbor until the 1870s. Bodega Bay was also the setting of the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds. Bodega Head was selected by PG&E for, and construction actually started on, a nuclear power reactor in the 1960s. A large hole was dug, but construction was halted when it was discovered that the site is on a geologic fault. Opponents to the plant called it Hole in the Head, which it is still called today. PG&E sold the land to the state of California for one dollar. The hole is now a freshwater pond that provides habitat for birds.
There is some speculation that Bodega Bay may have been Sir Francis Drake's Nova Albion landing location on the California coast.
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