Jack in the Wrack

Exterior Decorating

Keeping Brevard Beaches Clean

For Love of People 
and Animals


Some people load up when they come to the beach, umbrellas, chairs, tents but trees? Going for that real tropical feel I guess.  


Millennium Park in Indian Harbor Beach has been adopted by our local beachside Wal-Mart.
Many of the beaches in Brevard County have been adopted by organizations which do regular cleanups.  It's great to see so many people getting involved to keep our beaches clean.
I was there yesterday for about an hour finding all kinds of junk.  Weather- gorgeous, around 80 F- 25C.


I spent about 15 minutes ripping dried seaweed to get to a big snarl of fishing line. Into the recycle tube with you.

Jack in the wrack

Lee has a theory that the seaweed that wraps around rope and fishing line does so as a naturally defensive move to make it less able to entangle and injure sea life.


I collected a good 10 lbs of debris along with 22 ft. of rope moving my total to 1095 ft or 365 yds.

The remains of the prey

Grampa's beach,
we miss him

Today it was down to Seagull Park in Satellite Beach, grampa's beach, in honor of my late father-in-law.

Boat bumper

Big plastic chunk of
could be anything junk

Much more litter has been on the beach lately.  I filled a good full tote today along with another 15 ft. of rope.  The total is now exactly 1100 ft. or 366.66 yds. of rope collected since I began keeping track two months ago. I don't know if people realize how much is out there.  A LOT. And what it does to wildlife is not pretty. I want to get it off the beach so it can't wash back out and entangle marine animals.


 Two months until I walk the county in a county wide Beach Hug.
I would love company if anyone is interested in walking a section with me and my Beach Hugger crew.


Thanks for stopping by,
Do svidaniya
Beach Hugger.

Litter is Ultra Pure-Trash

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 
FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Boardwalk at Canova

Made use of the fishing line
recycling tube today

Most  Florida winter days you're bundled up in the morning and by midday you've peeled down to a

Nice Sketcher sandal
what a shame

t-shirt.  This morning began with 46F, 8C and rose to 70F, 20C. We took the Beach Hugger pooch for a walk before heading to Canova Beach in Indialantic for a cleanup.

Dogs are not allowed on the beach here in Brevard, although lots of people bring them anyway.  The Beach Hugger hound has been to the beach but no more.  She hates getting her feet wet when it rains but she'll go running out into the surf with reckless abandon. It makes mom nervous, besides - sweet as she is, she doesn't always get along with other beloved pooches.

We met up with Jim. Two days per week his office is Canova Beach.  He discovered a huge bowline from some big ship.  There was about 25 ft of it, it must have weighed over 200 lbs.  I'm glad that mess is no longer a potential entanglement hazard.

My aunt Fanny it's pure!

It was low tide and there was not a lot of litter to be found but we collected plenty of straws and plastic bags along with bottle caps and a few unusual items.  Most of the time we collect a least 10 lbs a trip.
Today between us we probably only collected around 4-5 lbs.
When the seas turns rough again we will have an abundance of trash at our feet.

Lee and Jim with a huge bowline

Brooklyn, the beloved
Beach Hugger hound

Poor unfortunate stingray
bird breakfast

Zsa Zsa goes to the beach.
Let's hope only the tag is lost

I hope this snorkel piece was not lost at an
inopportune moment

We did find one measly foot of rope. Bringing the total to 1051 ft or 350.33 yds.

Thanks for visiting,  come do a county wide Beach Hug with me during the last week of March.

Email brevardcountybeachhug12@gmail.com

Ciao for now,

Beach Hugger

Plastic, Hmmm. Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN FOR 

LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Christmas is coming!  Shopping, sewing, baking etc. has not allowed me as much time at the beach as I would like.


I did, however, do a beach cleanup yesterday with my son; today I flew solo.

Scotty, on the trail of trash.

Monday's cleanup was in Paradise,  Paradise Beach, Indialantic. Awww that sounds so nice and it is but of course all the usual yuck was there. It was  mild around 72 F, 21C. (I still wore a jacket) We made it to the beach as the sun was dimming.

always lovely to find one of these

We collected two tote bags full of all kinds of debris; lots of big plastic chunks.
 I'm sure between us we collected over 10lbs.  The rope count for the day was 37 ft. , elevating the rope total to 949 ft. or 316.33 yds.

Un-natural at the beach

Today I hit Ocean Ave. in Melbourne Beach.  Another sunset session and another day of big chunks of plastic.  It didn't take long to fill my tote. I dumped it and went back for seconds.  Leaving was difficult.  One more thing I have to get, one more thing I have to get. Finally my bag was becoming difficult to carry so I had to pack it in.  Walking past debris on the way to the boardwalk, I tried not to think of the harm it may bring.  I can't get it all.  I did collect 38 ft. of rope moving my total up to 987 ft. or 329 yds.  Moving in on another football field.


Thanks for checking in.


Jingle bells
Beach litter smells
Balloons have gone astray


Pick up your stash
of all your trash
and throw it all away
Hey!

(Yes, I know, it's bad)   County wide Beach Hug, March 24-April 1.  We can clean up the place to celebrate the beginning of Sea Turtle nesting season.  Interested? brevardcountybeachhug12@gmail.com

Parlez vous Francais?

You bet it's long lasting...
this sucker's gonna be on
the planet for ever!

Rings of death

Bowls, bottles, bins....

Plastic, hmmm.
Seemed like a good idea at the time

Asking Litter to Hang it Up

KEEPING BREVARD COUNTY CLEAN 

FOR

LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

S. Seventh St., Cocoa Beach, FL

Today the
rain kept us away from the beach, however, yesterday we ventured northward to Cocoa Beach  (home to 11 time surfing World Champion Kelly Slater, thank you very much!!). We don't get to the northern part of the county much so we thought we should "spread the love".

We find balloons of all kinds

Rain was all around but we were able to get in a good 45 minute  beach

cleanup.

Cocoa Beach has nice wide beaches.  The tide was out making the beach even wider.

Grounded chopper

Most  of the litter was trapped in the seaweed near the dunes so we stayed away from the water.

It was around 68 F, 19 C.

A bit chilly for us but summer for the tourists from North Dakota that we met;

Nice sharp shard,
OUCH!

10 F,  -12 C back home. Yipes.

Yeah! We removed another 50 ft. of rope yesterday.
The rope report total has grown to.........
862 ft or 287.33 yds.
The litter we collected was mostly small stuff today.  We each filled about half a tote bag before it rained on our parade.

Thanks for stopping by...

If litter at the beach
gives your heartstrings
a tug
                                                     befriend a beach
                                                    and give it
                                                    a hug

My guys, 
searching the seaweed

Asking litter to
"Hang it up"

Moi- Ms. Beach Hugger

A Sad Little Beach Hug

KEEPING BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN

FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

You never know what the day will bring.  Today's beach cleanup began as usual.  A beautiful Florida day--80 degrees today--(25C) lots of plastic chunks and chips everywhere and a few young surfers taking advantage of the smooth rollers.  As we walked along I did notice there was more clear plastic than usual.

My partner in grime, Lee, ready to tackle
Satellite Beach

Moments before his passing

After about 20 minutes of taking in the beauty of the day and collecting as much trash as we could find, I noticed one of the surfers had left the water and was staring at something on the beach.  Lee and I approached him and saw that he was looking at a seagull in distress.  The bird couldn't hold his head up and there was a large bulge in his crop.  He was gasping and choking. I spent a year working at the Florida Wildlife Hospital on US 1 in Palm Shores and have handled lots of seabirds.  I had Lee remove his shirt to cover the bird's head, this makes picking up a bird much easier.  I have had a seagull clench down on one of my fingers before; OUCH! is really the only thing that comes to mind that I can print here.

 I dumped the trash from my tote bag into Lee's and covered the seagull with Lee's shirt then placed the bird as gently as I could into my tote bag.  Racing toward the hospital across the Pineda Causeway,  we hoped and prayed for the little guy.  The gull was calling out and moving around, his eyes were flickering. I hoped this was a sign that he stood a chance, although, I do know that  just before a bird dies they often have a burst of energy to make themselves appear healthier than they are.  This is to keep those of its own group at bay. Birds will work together to kill a dying bird to keep the attention of predators away from their group. 

I began to lose heart as his eyes slowed down and then closed halfway.  His beak opened wide and he stopped moving altogether.  He was gone.  Poor little guy.  I brought him into the hospital and talked with Sue, the hospital's director - I hadn't seen her in about 9 years and it was nice to see her; even though it was not a happy moment.  I hoped they could do a necropsy to see what had done the gull in.  Unfortunately government regulations and costs wouldn't allow it.  The attendant  felt his neck and said it was crunchy.  I'm not an expert by any means but my best guess is either a broken neck or plastic ingestion.  

Needless to say it was a somber end to our cleanup.  We did remove a good bunch of trash and three feet of rope. My new total is 732 ft. or 244 yds.
Thanks for dropping by.  Please visit

www.floridawildlifehospital.org and check out their website.  They do great things for critters.

Go hug a beach!

Getting to the heart
of litter

Part of the days haul

Small Haul

KEEP BREVARD BEACHES CLEAN 

Amazingly beautiful day at
Sunrise Park Indialantic  

FOR LOVE OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

What a gorgeous day.  There was a slight coolness in the gentle breeze that caressed us as we strolled along the beach this morning.

It was a pleasant surprise to find little trash to
'blog of'.  Unfortunately what that means is that the garbage has been reclaimed by the sea.

However, today was one of those lazy days where we spent more time enjoying the beach we love; collecting shells and watching surfers.  It felt as though the beach was saying thank you to us today.  

Keeping one eye on the hunt for trash I searched the wrack line for simple treasures and was not disappointed.

Thumbnail size baby conch

 I found what appears to be a miniscule sand tiger shark tooth, unfortunately my camera phone could not take a decent photo of it.

 I'm glad not every day looks as though a trash truck dumped a load on the beach but when it does I'll do what I can to make my little part of it look better.  Along the way I stumbled across 2 more feet of rope.
Bringing my new total to.....601 ft or 200.33 yards, over two football fields in length!
I am blessed.   I walked in the sunshine up to my ankles in warm ocean water. I found some treasure and had a nice chat with a local lady who greeted me with a grateful hello. She is one of the many wonderful beach cleaning guardians of Brevard that I have met during my cleanups.

Thanks for dropping in- it's OK to do on a blog but not a wave-

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving for us in the States. Have a happy one and....


try not to let too much turkey make you a slug,
get to a beach and give it a hug.

Shell skeleton

Some plastic piece of
goodness only knows!

clear plastic is
always on hand

The ocean was making some cool
patterns in the sand

Our small haul

Mini augers