July 6, 2008

Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: SW.

Total stranded mammals: 1. seal pup - same as 7/4/08

Seaweeds and seagrass. ... a few new large, tangled piles

minor boulder falls

Natural re-arrangement of cove floors by ocean.This trip was made for the purpose of getting the rest of the trash to Cove 1 so that it can be hoisted out on my next (and probably last) trip for 2008, over Labor Day Weekend. I descended via the usual route. Someone has added a quality rope to it. I thought that it belonged to the folks from Seattle/Portland and that it would be gone when I returned, but it is still there. Don't know who else comes into the area. Nice to have that rope, though.I hiked to Cove 4 without incident, but the wave action had increased quite a bit from last time, and the water was not nearly as low as it had been, making some places hazardous.In Cove 4, I recovered one large bag of trash, one crab trap, and the red bucket, plus one very large piece of Styrofoam. Hiking out, I stopped in Cove 3 and recovered a pair of standard crab pot buoys tied to a large length of rope. Getting from Cove 2 to Cove 1 was very dicey. I felt like a cross between Santa Claus (with a bag slung over shoulder), Indiana Jones (dashing through low areas between waves), and the local garbage service.All trash is now directly under the hoisting point in Cove 1, securely bagged with heavy rocks on it. I anticipate doing the lifting on Labor Day Weekend and am rounding up one or more other persons to help me with this project. I will try to get some publicity, too.It is interesting how things come and go. On my first trip this year, I found three tires of identical size with Styrofoam centers in Cove 3. I put them above the tide line. On my return this weekend, two were gone (washed to sea). The third was still there. However, removing it would have been impossible, so I rolled it down into the tide zone on July 4, and it was gone on July 6. For stuff that is impossible to lift or carry out, this is probably the best thing to do with it, albeit a bit counterintuitive -- it has a better chance of washing up elsewhere and being found, as opposed to sitting in a cove and slowly disintegrating.I had also found a lot of Aerobie and Frisbee toys, and these seemed to be gone from the bags, so someone definitely likes to paw through my stuff and keep the best of it. But if they are hiking it out, that's fine with me! Also, when I recovered the crab buoys and rope from Cove 2, a large spherical bright orange bumper buoy I had found was missing. I suppose someone else found it and hiked it out, which is just fine with me!Stuff seems to come in spurts. One trip will yield lots of golf balls, and then there will be none -- ditto the Aerobies, knotted clumps of rope, etc. I suppose it depends on wave and wind action. Certain stuff is driven ashore just at certain times, depending on conditions.Last but not least, I believe I previously reported bobbing buoys, one off the north point of Oswald West State Park, the other in a tide pool north of that point. Both are now gone so either their ropes rotted through, and/or the objects to which they were tied got washed away elsewhere. At any rate, I have no need either to try to get a boat to go after the float off the north point in the open sea, or to try to hike to the tidal pool and dive on that buoy. What I do is risky enough already, so not having these to think about doesn't bother me!!