Real Sandpiper Point
Sea otters and kelp
Rafts, kelp wraps and a forest under the waves.
Pim and Mama live in the cove at Sandpiper Point, which is made up. Real sea otters are real, and some of what the story says is true to life. This page separates the two.
Sea otters
Sea otters rest floating together in a group called a raft.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
When resting, sea otters sometimes tie themselves in kelp fronds so they don't drift.
Source: Aquarium of the Pacific
In the wild, sea otters sometimes hold paws while sleeping. This paw holding does not happen very often.
Source: Seattle Aquarium
A mother sea otter nurses and grooms her pup while she swims on her back, with the pup on her chest.
Source: Aquarium of the Pacific
A mother sea otter cares for her single pup by herself for about six months, until weaning.
Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service
A sea otter's two-layer fur has more than a million hairs per square inch. Sea otters have no blubber; their dense fur keeps them warm.
Sea otters use tools, often a rock as a hammer or anvil to open shellfish.
Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service
Sea otters eat about a quarter of their body weight every day.
Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service
In Pim Holds On, holding paws is Mama and Pim's own ritual. In real life, paw holding is seen but it is not frequent, so we say "sometimes."
The kelp forest
Giant kelp is anchored to rocky reefs by a holdfast.
Source: Aquarium of the Pacific
Gas-filled bladders called pneumatocysts help kelp float toward the light.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Giant kelp can grow a foot and a half or more in a day when conditions are ideal.
Sources: Monterey Bay Aquarium; NOAA
Many animals live in a kelp forest: sea stars, anemones and urchins near the holdfasts; rockfish, crabs, sea otters, sea lions and seals higher up.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Sea otters are a keystone species in the kelp forest. They eat urchins; without otters, urchins can boom and eat kelp until bare rock is left.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Winter storm waves can tear kelp fronds and uproot whole kelp forests.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Where they live
Real southern sea otters live along California's central coast, from San Mateo County down to near Santa Barbara. They once lived along the whole California coast. Sandpiper Point is a made-up place.
In the stories
Pim's Bath and Pim Holds On borrow the real otters' rafts and kelp. In Pim Holds On, holding moves from Mama's paw to kelp to Pim's own paws.
If you go looking, look gently, put things back where you found them, and give wildlife room.
Sources
- Monterey Bay Aquarium, www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/animals-a-to-z/sea-otter
- Aquarium of the Pacific, www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/southern_sea_otter
- Seattle Aquarium, www.seattleaquarium.org/animal/sea-otter/
- US Fish & Wildlife Service, fws.gov/species/southern-sea-otter-enhydra-lutris-nereis
- US Fish & Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov/story/2015-11/thinking-ocean
- Aquarium of the Pacific, www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/giant_kelp
- Monterey Bay Aquarium, www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/ecosystems/kelp-forest
- NOAA, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/kelp.html
Each fact was read on its source page on November 1, 2026. Last updated November 1, 2026.