Mile 287 - Bayocean Peninsula north of Bayocean site 2 - April 22, 2023

Report Details

We were disappointed that the SOLVE beach clean-ups have not been re-initiated following the pandemic, so decided to do our own. We spent 3.5 hours carefully combing Mile 287 and picking up litter. There was evidence of recent strong winds, so everything on the beach was covered with windblown sand. As a result, there appeared to be less trash than we've encountered in the past, maybe because it had been covered by sand? What flotsam and jetsam we did find was largely made up of plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic shotgun wads, and plastic line. We left one large bag of trash along with a large marine fender at the northern end of the mile and reported its location and GPS coordinates to the Oregon State Park ranger from Cape Lookout State Park who is responsible for monitoring the Bay Ocean spit. We carried out the other large bag we filled and left it in the trash bins in the Bay Ocean spit parking area.All in all, it was a lovely day - relatively warm and pleasant with high overcast clouds and light winds. We saw relatively few birds during our visit: only a solitary whimbrel, a couple of gulls, a couple of ravens. A pair of bald eagles made a brief appearance soaring high over the north end of the mile. It was nice to see how many folks were bicycling along the beach - the ride being taken by the couple with the electric bikes with oversized balloon tires looked particularly inviting. Another great day on the Bay Ocean spit!!

Conditions

Temperature: 57 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 3.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 12. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 5. Playing in surf: 2. Other Activities: 7 people bicycling; 2 of these stopped and spent time playing in the surf.. Saw more folks bicycling than I have in the past, a couple of whom were using electric bikes. Also, while I did not see the vehicle itself, I saw tire tracks from a larger vehicle (pick-up truck?) on the southern end of the mile.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 21.

Driftline Content

Small rocks, Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.).

Natural Changes

Evidence of wave overtopping.

C Nelson

CoastWatcher

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Mile 287

Bayocean Peninsula north of Bayocean site 2

March 17, 2024

The cloudy marine layer that was present when we first arrived eventually burned off, providing us with a pleasant but breezy sunny afternoon for our visit. 1) We encountered an intact hull of a fiberglass boat on the mid-section of the mile; photos and location information was provided to the State Park Ranger so it could be retrieved from the beach. 2) There had been a massive influx of velella velella (by-the-wind sailors) washed ashore several days before our visit. 3) Given the number of folks in the parking area when we arrived, we had expected to see more folks on mile 287 but encountered just a typical number of visitors. 4) There was more detritus on the beach than we've seen in recent previous visits.

C NELSON