Mile 178 - Cape Cove, Sea Lion Point, Sea Lion Caves - April 1, 2016

Report Details

This is my end-of-quarter report for the first quarter of this year. It coincides well with the annual Spring beach clean-up that took place on the last Saturday of March. My daughter and I picked up so much trash that day, and still couldn't get all of it. I had to come back on a second trip April 1st to get the rest of it. Even after all that, I was only able to clean up about two thirds of the beach, because there were a couple hundred sea lions congregated on the South end of Cape Cove, making it off-limits to me. Tsunami debris was plentiful, but nothing was out of the ordinary to report. I took more pictures of the forever-occurring erosion issues, and documented some more readings of tsunami debris with the Geiger counter.

Conditions

Temperature: 51 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 1.5 feet.

Notable Wildlife

Best I could estimate, 200 hundred sea lions were lounging on the South end of Cape Cove

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Comparatively, there were not as many by-the-wind sailors on the shore. I did find a dead herring, waved it over my head and caught the attention of one of the numerous sea lions in the surf. I threw the fish as close to it as I could, and the sea lion went for it.

Driftline Content

Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.).

Man-made Modifications

ODOT is rebuilding the rock barrier wall on the West side of Hwy 101 from mile 178.8 to 179

Natural Changes

Newly exposed roots/trees falling. Landslides/major boulder falls