Our Daily Ocean: Day 240

For 2 months, I had planned to do a beach cleanup on March 25 while my kids had their science class at Airlie Gardens.  So when I woke up that Tuesday morning, you can imagine my disappointment when it was overcast and raining.  Thankfully, by the time my kids had their class, the rain let up and I was able to do my planned 20 minute beach cleanup! (AND no time more because as my timer went off... the rain began to fall again!)

As usual when it's an overcast rainy day, the lone people are just me on the sand and a few surfers in the water.  It makes cleaning the beach SO much easier not having to weave through people and their possessions.  That being said, I still pause at things like water bottles.  With surfers in the ocean, it's possible that a seemingly left-behind bottle of water could still have an owner.  But, I always err on the side of "reality"and pick it up.

20 minutes on March 25, 2014 at Access 19
Litter by weight: 15.2 oz
Cigarette butts: 42

Total cigarette butts removed: 57,837

Our Daily Ocean: Day 211

On Monday morning, we accepted a break from our normal routine by going out for hot chocolate (in a reusable ceramic mug, of course!), checking some books out from the library and doing a beach clean up.  It was a good morning...

Since this was a break from our norm, I took the suggestion of my friend Kim and did my beach cleanup between accesses 19 & 18 (Oxford and Henderson Streets).  You see, Kim had text me a week before telling me how bad it always is at Henderson St.... and since my beach cleanups have been on the cleaner side lately... I wanted to see if it really was worse there.

 We walked in at access 19 (Oxford St.) and to be honest... the beach wasn't that bad.  BUT... as we walked north to Henderson St. (access 18), the amount of litter began to increase.

 I found bottle caps posing as seashells.

 Plastic fragments trying to pose as broken shells.  Some are easier to spot.... blue is a dead giveaway for plastic.

We also found lots of plastic straws-- 10 to be exact-- which seems to be a high amount for this time of

year.  

AND... we picked up more cigarette butts than I wanted to find.  161

 So... this clean up wasn't horrible.  I didn't leave the beach wondering how people could be so disrespectful.  But, nonetheless, I'm curious.  There was definitely an increase in the amount of litter we found as we approached Henderson St.  ... I'm feeling like I need to do more cleanups at these accesses and talk to the good people of the Henderson Street League for the Environment and Responsible Government and the team of Wrightsville Beach View.  Have any insight?  Feed my curiosity!

20 minutes on October 21, 2013 at Access 19

Litter by weight: 14.4 oz
Cigarette butts: 161

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 211 days:

56,431

Our Daily Ocean: Day 148

This morning, after I dropped my kids off at Airlie Gardens for camp, I decided to do something out of the ordinary for my 20 minute beach clean ups.... a morning beach clean up!  There was little activity happening... so little, in fact, that it reminded me of being at the beach at the end of the day.  Another great time to be there enjoying the beauty of one of my favorite places in the world...

During sea turtle nesting season, the beach is walked very early every morning  by WB Sea Turtle Project volunteers.  As the volunteers look for turtle tracks, many also pick up litter.  Walking the beach this morning, I couldn't help but wonder how much litter had already been picked up before me.  The volunteers are doing an awesome job helping Keep Wrightsville Beach Clean AND finding tracks!  There are currently 2 sea turtle nests on WB!!!

More news!  On Tuesday, the Town of Carolina Beach voted unanimously to draft an ordinance to ban smoking on the beach!  The town council plans to vote on the ordinance on August 14!  This is very exciting because if the council decides to vote in the ordinance, Carolina Beach will become the first smoke-free beach in North Carolina!!  YAY!!!

And when it comes to making a change... when it comes to making a difference... it doesn't matter where it starts....just as long as it starts.  The ball is rolling, the possibilities are there and change is happening... how awesome is that?

20 minutes on July 12, 2012 at Access 19

Litter by weight: 2 lbs 6.7oz

Cigarette butts: 210

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 148 days:

47,899

Our Daily Ocean: Day 97

Once again we made it to the beach VERY late... this whole end of summer thing is really throwing me for a loop!!  I need to make a mental note to head to the beach 30 minutes earlier than I think I do!!  Check it out... this is what it looked like when we got to the beach!!!  Absolutely no time to spare... we headed right and got a move on doing our 20 minute clean up...

Walking around on Wrightsville Beach last night, something looked different.  There was a noticeable lack of litter.  Turns out that a local church group decided that-- since Labor Day had just passed-- it was important to do a beach clean up at  Wrightsville Beach.  Agreed!  High 5's to them!!! :D  Since they were picking up the majority of "bigger" items... it left us to focus on the "smalls."

During clean ups post Hurricane Irene, we've noticed a drastic increase in plastic caps.  My thinking is that those caps were buried in the sand and when the hurricane moved the sand around on the beach... she uncovered things (such as bottle caps).  Well... last night at the high tide line I saw this bottle cap peeking out from the sand.  Made me wonder how many more are buried...hmmm???  Guess we'll find out if we get another hurricane...

Over the weekend, I got messages from my friends Julie and Ginger.  Julie went to Access 36 with her family and picked up 370 cigarette butts.  Ginger and her husband John adopted Access 18 and in 15 minutes Ginger picked up 406 cigarette butts!!  Those amounts have been added to the community count on the sidebar!  The new Wrightsville Beach community count total is at: 9,617!!

Rewinding: A year ago on September 7, we did our 8th beach clean up!  At the time, the fact that I had 2,291 cigarette butts sitting in my garage was something that was so unbelievable to me.  Now... a year later....we have almost 34,000 cigarette butts.  And all it took was 20 minutes at a time...

20 minutes on September 7, 2011 at Access 19

Litter by weight: 1 lb 6.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 1,633

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 97 days: 

33,989