Location: Grey Whale Cove. Time 12.00-2.00pm. Please turn up to help clean this much neglected but stunningly beautiful beach. The guys from Surfrider do a fantastic job, please support them, I think they are giving away free Tshirts as well!

California Coastal Cleanup Day is the premier volunteer event focused on the marine environment in the country. In 2009, more than 80,600 volunteers worked together to collect more than 1,300,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, lakes, and waterways. California Coastal Cleanup Day has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the largest garbage collection” (1993). Since the program started in 1985, over 800,000 Californians have removed more than 14 million pounds of debris from our state’s shorelines and coast. When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by The Ocean Conservancy and taking place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events of the year.

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. (The 2010 Cleanup will take place on the fourth Saturday of September so as not to conflict with Yom Kippur.) Coming at the end of the summer beach season and right near the start of the school year, Coastal Cleanup Day is a great way for families, students, service groups, and neighbors to join together, take care of our fragile marine environment, show community support for our shared natural resources, learn about the impacts of marine debris and how we can prevent them, and to have fun! Coastal Cleanup Day is also the kick-off event for Coastweeks—three weeks of coastal and water-related events for the whole family.

Participating in Coastal Cleanup Day is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Pre-register with your local Coordinator, simply show up at any of the drop-in sites, or find your nearest site here.

Montara’s Clean up crew will meet as usual in the Northern dirt parking lot at 9.00am on Saturday September 25th, see you there! More details on the Montara Beach Coalition website.

The San Mateo County chapter of Surfrider is holding a beach cleanup on Saturday, July 10, 2010 from 12:00PM – 2:00PM at Montara beach. Please help if you can. Full details can be found on the Surfrider web site

We had a fantastic turn out for the event! Over 75 people gathered at Montara Beach to join the 900 global locations to say NO to off shore drilling, and YES to cleaner energy sources. Thanks to everyone for joining us and a big shout out also to Lynn Adams of the Pacifica Beach Coalition, Paul Hobi of the Ocean Conservancy, April Vargas and the guys from ‘below the surface’ who paddled up from Mavericks to join us!

Though nearly 7 years of existence the Montara Beach web site has undergone several design changes. It’s just morphed again, this time taking on a more blog/magazine type feel. It’s easier to read and browse than the last version while retaining it’s environmental tilt. Check it out at montarabeach.com.

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.

The new web site I designed for Liz Anah.

Liz Anah escaped from New Jersey at a young age, never looking back. Her spare, smoky vocal style and simple but unforgettable songs grew out of a journey that included stops in Michigan for school, a pilgrimage to an Ashram in India, and serious hard time teaching in the Oakland public schools. Liz Anah’s music has a kind of gritty innocence. Her songs are direct, potent stories of real-life heartache and shattered love, powered by an indomitable optimism that demands attention. (Excerpt from her website bio).

Liz's new CD realease 'Fade to Black' Photography by K.Stokes

I met Liz Anah through other local coastside musicians, namely Montara locals and good buddies Mark and Mike (The Fourth Street Experience). One night at Cafe Lucca open mike, Liz and I got talking after her set, she knew that I designed Mike McCalls CD ‘The Lone Cypress’ and worked with him on several photo-shoots. She told me that she had a new CD nearly ready for release and that she needed a design for the cover. We took it from there and agreed that I would shoot her for some promo shots and her CD cover and re-design her website to fit in with her new look. I’m really pleased with the result (so is Liz)! Visit the website www.lizanah.com it features several shots from the photo session taken one very cold day around the HMB boat yards. Liz wanted a gritty urban look, but also wanted to retain a feminine feel, I think we achieved what she was looking for. The final CD cover image was taken toward the end of the session in the afternoon light. ‘Fade to Black’ is Liz’s first CD release and you can get hold of a copy on her web site by clicking this link.

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

Here is the second installment on my ‘Waves and Riders’ surf photography series, this time the shots are mainly from sessions shot during the big storms that have been hitting the NorCal coast. I hope you enjoy (be sure to click on the ‘Fullscreen’ button in the middle of the image box to enjoy the work at full size).

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.

Jaws in full effect, Maui, Hawaii.

My good friend Hal sent me this picture of Jaws, taken the day before yesterday. It’s insane, regular 30ft swells are hitting the Islands, we are next!

Check out the live weather, swell, and surf updates on the Mavs site, click here.

Photo ©Yelp.com 2009

My wife and I were excited to see another eatery open on the coast and we got the opportunity to try it out last night. We often meet on our way home from work to eat out when we can’t be bothered to cook at home. The High Tide Restaurant Cafe and Creperie seemed like the sort of place that you could drop in on and get a reasonably price meal without dropping too much coin. The place was busy and full at 6.40pm, obviously the early dinner crowd, we ordered from the menu and took a number, the lady taking orders seemed a little grumpy. The whole place is covered in this wild acid trip painting style, [Read more →]

Premiere tonight at La Costanera 6-11.00pm movie starts at 7.00pm, no cover. Come and support our local film makers.

MONTARA makes #6!

I know it’s not been open long, and wrinkles are still being ironed out, but I am curious as to the publics initial opinion on our latest addition to the coastsides restaurant roster. I have heard many different experiences and thought it might be interesting to do a quick straw poll.

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 →]

This is one lucky guy! As I drove to work this morning I saw the twisted skid marks and the impact site on the old stone barrier. Anyone who knows this road must wonder what was going through his head as he plummeted 150ft toward the rocks and certain death (it’s around 300ft high there), must have needed to change his shorts, that’s for sure. Lesson learned: Devil’s Slide+Fog+speed=TROUBLE.

Read the full story in the SF Chronicle