. . . or maybe it was Stacy Steele, the North Beach vet, returning from a beach walk this morning with a few friends . . . 

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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!

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

Pleasantly redundant, this nice weather. . .