Three Friday trash totals in zone 0

Oh, how the month of August has zipped by! Just this morning, I was reminiscing how years past brought sweltering temperatures in August, along with an ocean that was about the temperature of a hot tub. This year has been so dramatically different. I don't remember ever having such a cool August in Wrightsville Beach!

Friday, August 9

August 9 is my birthday, and of course I was happy to start the day with a walk on the beach. The sky was filled was dramatic, rapidly changing cloud formations. 

Overall, my trash total for the day was quite small. I did find several small shards of colorful plastic, and I'm not exactly sure what they were from. My guess would be large fireworks. Upon picking up these shards, I remembered that I also found similar pieces in blue and purple at the excavation of loggerhead nest #2, which was on the north end on August 6. 

 

Other items that I picked up included:

 -1 beer can

- 1 plastic fast food cup with lid and straw

- 1 beer bottle

- 1 plastic cup

-1 length of fishing line with hook

- 1 plastic ring toy

- 4 plastic snack and candy wrappers

- 3 plastic bags

- 2 straws

- 2 chunks of styrofoam

- 1 cigar butt

- 33 cigarette butts

Friday, August 16

The morning of Friday, August 16 was cold and dreary! I got pretty bundled up for my early morning walk. In fact, I saw a friend of mine when I was leaving the beach at about 7:30, and he commented that he did not even recognize me with my sweatshirt, hat, and rain jacket on. "You look like you're in the witness protection program!" he said.

As you can see from this photo, it was cold, rainy, and dreary enough that the beach was quite deserted. 

My trash total for the day included:

-1 plastic bag

- 1 tube of chapstick

- 1 tube of anti itch cream

- 1 Capri Sun pouch

- 1 foil food wrapper

- 5 plastic snack wrappers

- 30 cigarette butts

- 1 sunglasses lens

- 3 plastic straw wrappers

- 8 bits of broken plastic

- 1 sand toy

- 1 sock

- 1 green washcloth

- 1 balloon

- 6 plastic bottle caps

- 14 candy wrappers

- 6 straws

Right in front of Shell Island Resort, I also found a very large and very unusual insect. He was a good 3 inches long and I elected to just leave him alone because he was a bit intimidating! 

Friday, August 23

Yet another picture-perfect day on the north end of Wrightsville Beach! I must admit that this time of year, while it makes me sad to see the days getting shorter, I like it that the sunrise occurs just a little bit later. On August 23, the sunrise seemed to stretch on much longer than normal, painting beautiful colors across the sky. The tide was low and the water was calm, cool and glassy.

My litter total for the day included:

- 1 empty sunscreen bottle

- 2 pairs of sunglasses

- 5 snack wrappers

- 2 broken pieces of plastic

- 1 toy

- 2 plastic lids

- 3 cigarette butts

- 2 straws

- 1 plastic bottle cap

- 3 plastic straw wrappers

- 1 plastic cup

- 1 plastic knife

- 1 bubble wand

 

I cannot believe there is only one week left of August!

Peace,
Susan