October 29, 2018

Although the tide was relatively low during this excursion, the surf was rough and I was unable to walk/climb to the southern-most sections of Strawberry Hill and Neptune Beaches.

Report Details

Although the tide was relatively low during this excursion, the surf was rough and I was unable to walk/climb to the southern-most sections of Strawberry Hill and Neptune Beaches. Possibly due to the previous day's storm, there was a good amount of mussel and crab shells especially on the southern end of Strawberry Hill. These appeared to attract a greater than usual amount and variety of birds. The harbor seals were evident both on land and, later, in the ocean. The green crabs that were observed in abundance in July were nowhere to be seen this time and, possibly due to the higher tide, there also appeared to be fewer sea stars. There was a greater than usual amount of beach debris (primarily wood and shells but also some plastic) again possibly due to the previous day's storm. The few people there appeared to be sight-seeing more than tide-pooling or rock/agate-hunting.

Conditions

Temperature: 56 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: 3.0 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 9. Walking or running: 9. Sitting: 2. Photography: 3. Other Activities: Using the rest rooms located at Neptune Beach (south).. Most of the people on 10/29 were walking along the beach taking in the surf and wildlife (primarily the harbor seals in the water). There was little of the usual tide-pooling and/or rock-collecting.

Concerns

Apparent violations: None observed..

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 7.

Notable Wildlife

Monday, October 29th was a day after a storm had hit the coast. There were many crab and mussel shells on the southern end of Strawberry Hill Beach and these attracted a large contingent of birds primarily sea gulls, plovers, oyster catchers, cormorants, and even a heron. The usual harbor seals - approximately 15-20 - were initially lying on their rocky "island" but took to the sea as the surf came in. There were none of the "green crabs" on the northern end of Strawberry Hill Beach that were observed in abundance on the last outing in July. There also appeared to be fewer sea stars though this may have been because of the higher tide (there was a noticeable minus tide in July).

Beached Birds

None noticed.

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Again, there was a greater than usual concentration of crab and mussel shells on the southern end of Strawberry Hill. This may have been due to storm which came through the area the previous day.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea). There was wood debris along all three (north and south Strawberry and south Neptune) beaches. The crab and mussel shells were congregated along the southern end of Strawberry Hill with plastic particles scattered more widely on the northern end of Strawberry Hill and the southern end of Neptune beach. There was also a sizable number of pine needles along Neptune Beach possibly/probably due to Cummins Creek flowing into the ocean at that point.

New Development

As mentioned in previous reports, this area does not have any human developments and there was no change in the state infrastructure at each of these locations.

Man-made Modifications

None noted.

Natural Changes

There was minor sand-slide activity observed on all three sections. This activity was smaller than noticed previously. There were also the usual cliff waterfalls and seepage especially along the Strawberry Hill sections of the beach.

Actions & Comments

None taken except for the removal of a few small items of human trash picked up along the beach.