Mile 220 - Yaquina Head north, Schooner Creek south - September 20, 2014

Report Details

A spectacular day brought many people to the beach. It looked more like California than Oregon. There is remarkably little litter or trash although there seems to be a disturbing trend of people picking up after their dogs, but leaving the droppings in the plastic bag on the beach or at the parking areas.

Conditions

Temperature: 72 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: S. Tide Level: 2.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 54. Number of dogs: 9. Walking or running: 29. Playing in surf: 4. Playing in sand: 7. Sitting: 8. Photography: 1. Tidepooling: 5. Other Activities: guitar playing-1. Last day of summer with beautiful weather, people were escaping valley heat and reveling in the perfect coastal weather!

Concerns

Apparent violations: none.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 8.

Notable Wildlife

Still several dozen sea stars at south end of beach in rocky intertidal area of north side Yaquina Head. No obvious signs of sea star wasting disease.

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Unusual concentration. Many bundles of dead mussels washed in over last week. All shells are empty which is unusual if ripped off rocks by waves. The bottom two feet of the long rocks esxposed at low tide have dead and empty mussel shells too, but they are smaller. Hope this is a normal occurrance.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Small rocks. Remarkably clean beach for last few weeks!

Natural Changes

Visible retreat of solid bluff. Slow but steady, erosion