I took this video on Sunday morning, extremely high tide, many sneaker waves washing in. Several people nearly got washed out while trying to take photos. Note the amount of sand moved on the beach, the stairs and life ring station are half buried under sand.

I saw this video on coastsider.com and had to share.

Montara Beach Report 2/9 from Kevin Stokes (Coastsider) on Vimeo.

A short video report showing the damage to the sandstone bluffs on Montara Beach sustained during the recent high tides and winter storms.

Styrofoam covers a Pacifica Beach. Photo © Ian Butler

This problem just gets worse and worse, we must enforce a styrofoam ban NOW. Make your voice heard by clicking here. Take a look at John Mayburys Peninsula Coastside Blog entry by clicking here.

A while back I started to bug my good friend guitarist Mike McCall to write an instrumental song with Montara Beach as a theme, the reason being that I wanted to shoot some video of the beach and set a soundtrack to it. He came up with a beautiful original Spanish flavored piece called simply ‘Montara Song’. So this weekend I finally got around to filming and editing, I hope you enjoy it.

Click this link Montara Song to view the original Music video. © Music & film – Mike McCall & Kevin Stokes 2009

Stop stealing them!

This time of year is my favorite time to enjoy the beach. Warm(ish), blustery and fresh all at the same time. The surf looks like gigantic wild white horses galloping toward shore as I take my stroll North up the beach, the large swell has the tow-in crowd at Mavericks getting all the pre-competition practice they can. The beach is real steep at the surf line, carved out deep by the relentless pounding waves. This combination of a steep shore and big surf can be lethal (the tragic loss of the Mother and daughter is still fresh in my mind) yet some  parents still foolishly allow their children to play in or near the surf line, choosing to ignore the posted warnings at the foot of the stairs.

As the day wears on the light becomes so beautiful I can’t resist going home to get my camera check out some of the shots in the gallery section. I know these are black and white but I’ll get around to posting the color ones soon.

After the tragic loss by drowning of a Mother and daughter several months ago at Montara State Beach an anonymous person donated two life Rings with 60ft rope tethers to be used in the event of a water rescue at Montara. The two rings were mounted on the back of the dangerous surf warning sign. A couple of months back one of these potential lifesavers went missing, presumed stolen. It was immediately replaced by the donor, now it’s happened again. I hope that who ever is removing these rescue devices is never put in the situation where themselves or a member of their friends or family could have been saved by one of the missing life rings. If anyone sees any safety equipment being stolen please call the sheriff, it could save a life.

Surfers Beach in miniature. ©KStokes 09

Playing around in Photoshop, I love the ‘Tilt Shift’ lens effect , looks like a tiny model scene. Click the photo to view full size and get the full effect.

Grey Whale Cove bare butt cheek visitors beware!

State lets parks crack down on nude beachgoers.

Explorer – Just Outside San Francisco, a Wild Coastline – NYTimes.com.

Looks like we made it in to the travel section of the New York Times.

The floodlit entrance

We were lucky enough to get an invitation to the ’soft’ opening of the new Peruvian restaurant on Friday night. The official ‘Grand Opening’ for the general public is next Friday. We were warned that as this was the first live run of the new kitchen and staff so be prepared for some hiccups. Our party of six was welcomed at the door by two hostesses and we were seated in the middle of the floor in front of the open kitchen. As we looked around we recognized many Montara local faces, and waved and said hi. Shortly after we were seated, our server Luigi brought us a tray of Pisco sours to try, ‘it’s the Peruvian equivalent of a margarita’ he said, delicious. Our cocktail was swiftly followed by a dazzling array of appetizer plates delivered by more servers dressed head to toe in black. If this was a test run I can’t wait to try the food when they really have it dialed in! It was delicious, our group was truly blown away by the freshness and quality of the food. Seafood cooked to perfection and spicy hot ceviche so fresh that I expected it to jump off the plate and flap around on the table. [Read more →]

Litterbugs are strange creatures, they come from all cultures, can be male or female, young or old. They are for the most part just like me and you, they also look just like me and you. If you walked past a litterbug in the street you would not be able to tell them apart from any other person on that street, they look pretty normal. They like to eat food, drink soda and smoke cigarettes. They go to work, like walks in the park, bike rides and sunny days on the beach. Litterbugs share many things with regular everyday people, that is until they are required to perform one very specific function. This seemingly simple task exposes the litterbug for what they really are. What is it you ask? What is this task? Why are you singling out the litterbug for attack?Listen, litterbugs are very different from me and you, let me explain how and why. Let’s start by classifying the different types of litterbug. I’m going to concentrate today on a particularly nasty and prevalent type, Idontcare leavemyshitanywhereus more universally known as the beach litterbug most commonly found on hot sunny days around the coast, very rarely seen in the winter months. These creatures normally migrate great distances to visit the beach with their offspring in the Summer season. [Read more →]

La Costanera interior ©opentable.com

UPDATE: First full restaurant review here

There is a huge buzz on the coast about chef/owner Carlos Altamirano’s new Peruvian restaurant La Costanera, the former Charthouse in Montara may finally become a successful local hotspot, expectations run high. Mr. Altamirano and his wife Shu have two other successful restaurants in San Francisco, Mochica and Piqueo’s (both also Peruvian). From what I have read the menu in the new establishment will feature up to 10(!) ceviches and as many as 30 Peruvian dishes ($31.00-$50.00, source: OpenTable.com), along with Pisco cocktails, a New World wine list, and beers from the Americas and Belgium, all set in a 10,000 sq three level setting with killer ocean views and a shiney new ‘coastal theme’ interior designed by Michael Brennan.

I have my fingers crossed that it works out for them, so many have failed before them and we really need another good eating place in Montara. Interestingly enough they state that they have ‘55 free parking spaces’. I wonder if they have figured out how to separate the beach visitors parking from their own, it gets pretty crazy there on hot Summer days, and if I understand correctly the dirt part of that lot is Coastal Commission controlled and the far left is Sate Parks. We will see how that one pans out, but I expect the parking to spill out onto Highway 1 as it has at Sam’s Chowder House down the road in Princeton. I am also interested as to how they will control the enevitable increase in litter and trash that the extra visitors will undoubtably generate, it’s bad enough as it is, [Read more →]

I would like to personally thank each and every volunteer that gave up their Saturday morning to come and help clean our coastline for the 25th California Coastal Clean Up day. Over 50 volunteers turned up at Montara State Beach to help out, including a large enthusiastic crowd from Sunset Magazine. We had people travel from far and wide including one couple who drove from Reno and another man from Palo Alto.

So far with just 65% of the cleanup sites results in, the statewide count stands at 66,550 volunteers, which should approach the event goal of 70,000 volunteers. Those volunteers picked up 819,394 pounds of trash and an additional 89,899 pounds of recyclable [Read more →]

Coastal Cleanup Day is the highlight of the California Coastal Commission’s year ‘round Adopt-A-Beach program and takes place every year on the third Saturday of September, from 9 a.m. to Noon. In 2009, that day falls on September 19, [Read more →]