Coastal Cleanup Day

Hopefully, your summer has been full of trips to some beautiful beaches. The weather is some parts of the country will be warm enough to swimin the ocean for at least another month, so there’s still time left to squeeze in one more trip! As summer winds down, though, it’s time to start thinking about how you can give back to a beach or coastline near you. Let’s clean up our beaches and oceans!

California Coastal Cleanup Day is taking place on Saturday, September 17. In 2010, over 82,000 volunteers removed 1.2 million pounds of trash and recyclables from California’s lakes, beaches and waterways – that’s an amazing effort! Let’s see if we can beat that record this year. California Coastal Cleanup Day is part of the larger International Coastal Cleanup Day that takes place ever year on the third Saturday in September. According to Ocean Conservancy, in 2010, 7.4 million pounds of trash were removed from our world’s waterways by volunteers. Incredible!

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Horses think horse surfing is hilarious.

It’s Friday, and if you’ve had a week like I did, you probably need a good laugh. So when I randomly came across this picture, I knew I had to write a post about it. It appears that it’s as simple as it looks – a horse traveling up to 35 miles per hour pulls a surfer through the waves behind him. Just a horse pulling a surfer. Horse surfing.

Not surprisingly, there aren’t any pictures of horse surfing on Flickr. So, I’ll provide you with a link to a site with some really nifty photos about horse surfing in England. Check them out — it’s pretty bizarre. Happy Friday!

The Independent Horse

Photo: katieblench

I will be the first to tell you that I am no photography expert – not by far! But, I do absolutely adore beaches, and I always take my camera with me, grains of sand be darned. When you take about 1,000 photos of beaches in one year, you’re bound to get a few that turn out well. I’ve learned a lot about how to frame shots and how to not fall into the trap of “cliche” beach shots, though I still do take plenty of those. But on the other hand, who cares? Cliche shots can be very pretty.

I thought it would be neat to share what I’ve learned from a couple of my own photos and then include a bunch of really fabulous, creative beach photos I’ve found on Flickr. Some people really have a good eye — it’s all about realizing that a beach is more than just sun, sand and water.

First up – My husband and I watched the sun set on Eagle Beach for a good hour, and took about 300 pictures. I took a break for a bit and watched my husband catch the remaining light. I loved this one because it capture him doing one of the things he loves to do most – take pictures.

Taking a Photo of my Husband Taking a Photo

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Siesta Beach's gorgeous water

Man, I really have to make it over to Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida. I’ve been wanting to go ever since I read fellow Uptake blogger Barbara Weibel’s post about it back in late 2008, but I’ve just never made the time. Friends have recently gone and told me how amazing it is; not only is the beach and water itself lovely, but there are apparently lots of things to do around the area for families such as museums and an aquarium, which sets it apart from the Rosemary Beach area, as much as I love it.

So what exactly makes Siesta Beach so lovely? According to Barbara Weibel, it’s the sand; made up of 99% quartz, it reflects most of the sunlight, keeping it cool on the hottest of days. The sand is wonderful for sand castle building as well. And, the beach is shallow, and there are lifeguards around at all times, making it very safe for everyone. Lifeguards are rarely present at the beaches I have visited recently.

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