January 11, 2025

Temperature: 47 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 7.2 feet.

Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea).

New riprap or shoreline protection structures. I'll keep this brief since I really am pissed at this point on what's going on at my mile today. I started my mile after the apex of the high tide (first day of the king tides through Monday), at about 10:00 a.m. I really didn't expect to get through my whole mile this morning because of the lack of beach at about the 1/3 mile point (see pic). What I'm having the most difficulty with on my mile was the construction on the beach at this "pinch point" that negates my ability to walk my whole assignment. As you can clearly see from my pictures, somehow, the State approved the construction of a breakwater to allegedly try and mitigate the erosion occurring on an area that was severely eroded this same time last year. But...as we know as Coast Watchers, the ocean both gives and takes away things from time to time. There was no clear "eminent" danger to further intrusion at this area in my opinion. The folks that approved this monstrosity didn't really dig too deep into the science of coastal morphology or history of how things come and go in our beautiful environment before pulling the trigger. I am sad today because of this intrusion on my mile. I have been effectively changed by this behavior and action. I wish I could have walked my mile this morning like I have since 1971 without disruption and an anemic change to our relationship with the world. As Kurt Vonnegut used to say...Oh well.

I am reaching out to OPRD to request a copy of this "emergency" breakwater permit for review. I also want to a "drive on the beach" permit approval as well.