Mile 178 - Cape Cove, Sea Lion Point, Sea Lion Caves - March 22, 2014

Report Details

It was an awesome morning on the Oregon Coast for the annual Spring beach clean-up. There was lots of garbage on Cape Cove beach. I got a head start on the clean-up last weekend by hauling out two bags of trash. This morning, packed out two large chunks of Styrofoam and four more bags of trash, and I could have filled four more if I had them. There was evidence of a recent rock-slide. This seems to happen every time we have a sub-freezing event. The Central Oregon Coast had quite a bit of that in January and February.

Conditions

Temperature: 51 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: S. Tide Level: 0.7 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 2. Other Activities: litter pick-up. There were numerous on-lookers at the top of the bluff participating in the "Whale watching spoken here" event.

Concerns

Litter

Notable Wildlife

There was a lone sea lion on Cape Cove beach, and like others I have witnessed that were separated from the main crowd, this one was badly injured.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Shells, Small rocks, Styrofoam, Wood pieces.

Natural Changes

Major cracks appearing in bluffs, Visible retreat of solid bluff, Landslides/major boulder falls.

Actions & Comments

I have got an archive of time-lapse photos of the erosion, which I will share with ODOT shortly.