Mile 287 - Bayocean Peninsula north of Bayocean site 2 - March 26, 2016

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A challenging SOLVE beach clean-up day! There weren't many volunteers on Bay Ocean spit and there was an unexpectedly large amount of detritus washed up, much of it likely Japanese tsunami debris based on the Japanese characters located on many of the items. Two of us worked for 5 hours until exhaustion forced us to quit - and we still weren't able to complete a full sweep of mile 287. It was discouraging to leave with great quantities of trash still remaining to be gathered. In addition, with recent high tides there had been an extremely large influx of Velella velella along the entire length of the spit. The smell of the decaying little blue sailors was unpleasant, and it was slippery and dangerous to walk through them gathering up debris. I'm glad I was able to do as much as I could and sorry I hadn't enlisted a large crew of friends to aid in the effort!

Conditions

Temperature: 50 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: 1.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 31. Number of dogs: 9. Walking or running: 28. Other Activities: 3 horseback riding. Other than us , no other SOLVE beach clean-up volunteers on Mile 287. While folks were out in typical winter weekend numbers, all were walking/running rather than sitting down and staying in one location.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 21.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 1. likely a common murre

Stranded Marine Mammals

Total stranded mammals: 1. dead seal-like animal, species unknown

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Unusual concentration. Huge influx of stranded velella velella along entire length of Bay Ocean spit.

Driftline Content

Small rocks, Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). Very heavy accumulation of ocean-based debris

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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