“No, it didn’t snow on the beach today but we do have lots of foam from the awesome waves!”

strorm carol schultz web

strorm carol schultz2 web

Rough day on the west side: Ocean Shores Boulevard closed IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. Chance a la Mer in front of the Convention Center closed. Beach Approach closed. Hotel, restaurant and retail parking lots nearly empty.

constrcut shilo web

construct ba road close web

Nice day for a solitary walk on the beach . . . if you can get there . . .

empty beach web

I saw a couple of dead ducks on the beach south of Marine View yesterday, didn’t think anything of it until I saw this Seattle Times story on dead ducks on LaPush and Kalaloch beaches: (anyone else seeing dead ducks around?):

By Jonathan Martin

Seattle Times staff reporter

Researchers have found at least 100 dead or sick sea ducks on two Northwest Washington beaches since Friday, likely due to a bloom of toxic algae in the coastal waters.

The bird kill appears to be mostly afflicting two specific breeds of sea ducks — the white-winged scoter and the surf scoter — that eat shellfish. The kill also appears to have hit only the Kalaloch and LaPush beaches, said Julia Parrish, executive director of Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a citizen science project from the University of Washington.

Associated Press story:

SAN FRANCISCO — Dangerous staph bacteria have been found in sand and water for the first time at five public beaches along the coast of Washington, and scientists think the state is not the only one with this problem.

The germ is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – a hard-to-treat bug once rarely seen outside of hospitals but that increasingly is spreading in ordinary community settings such as schools, locker rooms and gyms.

The germ causes nasty skin infections as well as pneumonia and other life-threatening problems. It spreads mostly through human contact. Little is known about environmental sources that also may harbor the germ.

. . .

In the new study, researchers tested 10 beaches in Washington along the West Coast and in Puget Sound from February to September 2008. Staph bacteria were found at nine of them, including five with MRSA. The strains resembled the highly resistant ones usually seen in hospitals, rather than the milder strains acquired in community settings, Roberts said.

The researchers declined to identify the beaches where the germ was found.

Beach Taurus ricardo barton web

Explains photographer Ricardo Barton:

I took this photograph of children playing on one of the mounds of sand on the beach.  The tide came in and surrounded the kids and the sand hill.  . . .

No need to worry, the children were able to retreat off the sand hill to safety.

If you can find them, our beaches are very nice!

beach mom kid web

Little shark? Baby porpoise? Washed up  just north of the Jetty, yesterday afternoon:

Pleasantly redundant, this nice weather. . . 

And I’m not talking Sharky’s gift shop — a Web site devoted to shark sightings has the following posting — the big question is, were they really sharks, or dolphins? (No photo evidence):

Ocean Shores, WA  —  On July 31, 2009 Rick Chastain, his 4 year old son Cooper and 15 year old niece Kiara Drake were in between Damon Road and beach access West Chance A La Mer NW, Ocean Shores at Grays Harbor, Washington. There was a light fog with over a mile of visibility. It was 2:30 PM and the air temperature was approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Chastain reported the following ; “I was watching three to four whales, about 300 yards off the shore, when I caught a glimpse of a dorsal fin in the breakers. As I watched more than one appeared, usually 30 – 40 feet apart from each other. They were traveling across the water rather than up and down. Then as we were watching a seal appeared between us and the sharks. We watched as the sharks would roll in the waves as they were breaking. The sharks would roll and the seal would show up 50 feet or so in either direction. They were actively chasing it up and down the shore. One shark would roll and before it made it under another would surface from the other direction. Then we would see another approximately 30 – 40 feet away from where the first had surfaced. I was watching the Seagulls and it did not seem that they were able to pick up any scraps. At least while I was there. We watched for an hour and they were still actively surfacing when we left. Whether they caught the seal or not I have no idea. But the seal kept surfacing quite aways from where the sharks were each time. I believe there was only one seal. There were many, many people enjoying the warm weather. Many were surfing with long boards and body boards, as well as using boogie boards. Most of them had no idea what was only 100 feet away from them. The sharks appeared to be 12 – 15 feet in length with a dark colored back and dorsal fin and a white underbelly.”