On Friday, as we started our 20 minutes, the first thing we noticed was this huge hole.
Digging holes at the beach is super fun... but it's also loads of fun filling them back in! So... if you dig a hole while at the beach this summer... please take a moment to fill it in. AND... even if you didn't dig the hole... please take a couple of minutes and fill the hole so that a mama sea turtle can safely come ashore to lay her eggs.
The volunteers of the WB Sea Turtle Project are also finding holes on the beach... Check out this recent post on WB--Keep It Clean that includes a picture of a deep hole with a sand sculpture of a sea turtle.
More sea turtle news: the other morning I read this incredible story about a leatherback sea turtle laying her eggs on a beach in Florida. What's amazing about this particular sea turtle is that she doesn't have her rear flippers to dig her nest... so volunteers watch for her and dig a hole just deep enough for her to lay her eggs!! How amazing is that!?!
When we weren't busy filling in holes, we were busy picking up litter. Thankfully, the beach wasn't trashed. There was a little litter here and there, but all in all... I was pleasantly surprised... and so relieved to not have the overwhelming feeling that we had during the last weekends in May.
If there were awards for the strangest thing we find on the beach... this empty bag of "My Mommy's Milk" would get it! My husband and I both immediately made the joke: Doesn't mommy's milk come package free?? ;)
Access 33 is one of our least visited accesses. For some reason I never think to go there. In fact, Friday's clean up was only our 3rd at Access 33... AND... I just realized it was EXACTLY 2 months ago on April 10!! I always find it interesting looking back... seeing the differences between the days and months. Sometimes the difference is better and sometimes it's worse. On Friday, the cigarette butt litter at 33 was significantly better than our last visit. But something that isn't changing is people's lack of responsibility. Last time, we watched as a man threw his fishing line to the ground. This time, as were were leaving the beach...we found something in our path that wasn't there when we first came... a plastic bag with a dirty diaper. :( I can't even imagine how or why the people would have put their trash in the middle of the pathway. The trash can was nearly empty and there's even a trash can at the Blockade Runner Hotel. Hmmm... while I'm baffled at how some people seem to have a blatant disregard for our environment... I am thankful for every single person that takes the time to make this world a better place to live in :)20 minutes on June 10, 2011 at Access 33
Cigarette butts: 91
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| Found 10 littered plastic straws... hmmm... thinking that Blockade Runner needs to make the switch to paper or reusable glass straws ;) |
Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 72 days:
21,438
OK... Now I realize that having lived pretty much my entire life in a land locked state I don't have much experience with the beach, but I'm just totally blown away by all of the shoes that you keep finding! I mean, how could a person just wander off and forget their shoes? It's sort of blowing my mind at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHaha!! ....I honestly don't understand how people can leave their shoes either.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I can think is that people take their shoes off while they're at the beach... get used to the sand... and forget that they even had shoes in the first place. (maybe??) If I had to give advice to people coming to the beach, I would tell them to leave their shoes in their cars... who needs shoes at the beach anyway???
We have a full (paper ream sized) box filled with shoes to donate... not to mention the ones that fit my youngest son. Our new joke is that we'll never have to buy shoes for our kids again ;) So crazy.