Our Daily Ocean: Day 140

It's been over a week since I've been to Wrightsville Beach.  There's this crazy thing that happened last week called rain... and well... life.  Yup, it happens.  With three young kids, it's SO easy to get busy, but I'm happy to say that things have finally slowed back down and we made it to Access 16 today!

I spent a bit of time today talking to one of the WB lifeguards as he paid close attention to the few people in the ocean (lots of rip currents today!).   I was happy to hear from him that the WB police are out on the beach strand enforcing the laws including no dogs, no alcohol, no glass and no littering.  Obviously, there's no way that they can catch everyone... but I'm hoping that their efforts to enforce the laws make this beach season just a little bit less trashy than last year.

It's now sea turtle nesting season at Wrightsville Beach.  That means every morning the volunteers of the WB Sea Turtle Project walk the entire beach strand as the sun is coming up looking for turtle tracks.  Many of the volunteers pick up the litter they see during their morning turtle walks and share what they find on Wrightsville Beach-- Keep It Clean.  You can also find them on Facebook here.

OK... FUN fact time!  Most people who know me know that I have this (non-mathematical) thing for numbers.  As I was adding today's count to the cigarette butt tally I realized something very cool.  In 140 non-consecutive 20 minute beach clean ups, we have collected 45,254 cigarette butts off of Wrightsville Beach.  Interesting fact: 45,254 is the same forwards and backwards!  ... and if those numbers are added up (like adding for numerology), they add up to 20!

Hello 20 minute beach clean ups! ;)

20 minutes on May 22, 2012 at Access 16

Litter by weight: 7 oz
Cigarette butts: 167
Straws: 5

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 140 days:

45,254