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.

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!

This event takes place this Saturday June 26th at multiple locations across the plant. You can join in by being at Montara State Beach at 11.00am, at midday we will join hands to form a protest line in the sand to say NO to off shore drilling, and YES to clean energy. Wear black to represent the tar balls on the beaches in the Gulf. You can get full details at the Montara Beach Coalition web site or the official ‘Hands Across the Sand’ site. See you there, bring your friends

At the end of Birch Street is a new nursery that has opened its doors for business in Montara. My wife and I paid them a visit today and was pleasantly surprised with the quality and variety of plants for sale. The other advantage with buying plants from a few blocks away is that they are more than likely already acclimatized to the Montara climate. The people are really nice and I wish them all the best in their new venture. Drop by and check them out, maybe buy a plant or two and support your local businesses.

On Sunday, May 23rd, coastal counties throughout California are sponsoring “Save the Whale Day” to raise awareness regarding a U.S. proposed compromise agreement that would legalize some forms of commercial whaling for the first time since the international ban on whaling was approved in 1986. PACIFICA WILL HOST SAN MATEO COUNTY’S “SAVE THE WHALE DAY” ACTION When:  Sunday May 23, Program Begins at 10am and Concludes around 11:30am Where:  Sharp Park Beach Promenade/Pacifica Pier, Speakers Include:  Elizabeth Cataldo, President of the American Cetacean Society, SF Bay Chapter  –  Shari Bookstaff, Biology Professor, Skyline College; Former President ACS, SFBC   – Leland Yee     –  Assemblyman Jerry Hill     –   April Vargas Music performed by:    Dave Crimmen The Pacifica Beach Coalition is partnering with the Western Alliance for Nature, organizers of the event, to collect signatures on a petition that will be sent to the Obama Administration requesting campaign promises to support conservation be kept and a final halt to commercial whaling be committed to through the continuation of the moratorium.   Fourteen other events will be held simultaneously, from San Diego to Humboldt. What you can do:  [Read more →]

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.

These shots were taken by me from the bluffs which are about a mile from the wave, thanks to the Canon 600 mm lens my buddy Michael has lent me I was able to get some half decent shots of some of the first heat waves. It’s great to see shots of the pit from a boat close up, but these distance shots really give you a sense of the scale and magnitude of these waves. The surfers truly are modern day gladiators! Enjoy my photos, by clicking the full screen viewer.

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.

Jeff Clark. image ©yahoo.com

In June 2009, Jeff Clark, the man whose name is synonymous with the infamous big wave, ceased to be Contest Director of the Mavericks Surf Contest run by Mavericks Surf Ventures. The sad irony here is that the company he helped form in 2003 to promote and be an ambassador for the wave, the sport, the contest and Mr. Clark himself, seems to have turned on the man who started it all over 30 years ago. Since then Jeff has been very quiet on the subject hoping to settle his differences with Mavericks Surf Ventures and it’s CEO Keir Beidling in private.

Sadly, it seems that Jeff’s vision of keeping the Mavericks Surf Contest true to honoring his spirit and passion for surfing has failed in the face of corporate sponsorship dollars and broken promises. He now has to resort to a legal approach to settle the dispute.

The Mavericks Big Wave contest is still waiting to be called at the time of writing (the 24 competitors now call the start), huge swells hitting the coast promise an exciting competition if Mother Nature allows the right conditions. The question has to be asked, can corporate sponsorship demanding a return on their investment and the true spirt of big wave surfing ever live comfortably together? Personally I think not, especially when Mother Nature holds the ultimate trump card of game on, or not.

Good luck Jeff, I believe you have a solid case. And good luck and safe surfing to all the competitors in the 2010 Mavericks Surf Contest!

To read the man’s own words check out his blog Jeff Clark: My Word.

(If you happen to read this post Jeff drop me a line, I have 10 Montara Life questions for you!)

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

I can’t believe it, there has been yet another Devil’s Slide related fatality! At the time of writing the cause or circumstances surrounding the man’s death are still not clear, I’m sure events will unfold in the next few days. I called the abandoned car in to the Sheriff at 9.10am this morning on my way to work, I had seen the car parked in the turn out near Grey Whale Cove Sunday lunchtime and got suspicious when it was still there on Monday morning. So some of the reporting is a little off fact-wise in these links, but here are the HMB Review and SF Gate reports.