Our Daily Ocean: Day 142

It isn't every May that a tropical weather system comes rolling into town.  But, today Tropical Depression Beryl made its way through Wilmington with the gift of rain! (My garden is happy I'm sure!)  Knowing we were going to get a lot of rain, I (being the planner that I am) did a beach clean up yesterday!

As I did my 142nd beach clean up, The Daily Ocean did her 286th on the exact same day.  The day after Memorial Day and our beach clean ups couldn't be more different.  

Here's the comparison:

Santa Monica:  5.9 lbs of litter and TWO cigarette butts

Wrightsville Beach: 1 lb 3.6 oz of litter and 148 cigarette butts

When I see the overall difference between our two beaches, I get even more excited about the possibility of Wrightsville Beach becoming the first smoke-free beach in North Carolina!  Less litter means a cleaner more family friendly beach!!  Just maybe we'd find Wrightsville Beach on a top beaches list like this one: Dr. Beach's Top American 10 Beaches

Another reason to keep our beaches clean is that the majority of people that visit the beach come barefoot.  No one wants to be stepping on or worry about stepping on trash.  One of my personal favorite things about the beach is feeling the sand beneath my feet... I like feeling the variance of the texture... the heat... the coolness.  It grounds me.  For me, life is better barefoot.  And from what I read yesterday, going barefoot is healthy.  Check it out and then (if you haven't already) kick off your shoes :)  7 Health Benefits of Going Barefoot Outside

20 minutes on May 29, 2012 at Access 16

Litter by weight: 1 lb 3.6 oz

Cigarette butts: 148

Straws: 10

That's my cat Millie checking out the litter we picked up at the beach ;)

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 142 days:

45,530