Take The Pledge!!

In honor of Earth Day, I am posting this again. We can all do our small part to make this Earth a better place. Happy Earth Day!


We walk the beach often and I am becoming more and more concerned with all the plastic we find.

Each year, one million sea birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals die from ingestion of, or entanglement in plastics.

In some places of the Pacific Ocean, the amount of plastic suspended in the water outnumbers plankton six to one! There is a section of the Pacific Ocean twice the size of the continental United States called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Within it, 100 million tons of plastic swirl in a vortex of currents. There is so much plastic in the water that it outnumbers zooplankton by six to one!

This plastic ends up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. Again, one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die globally each year because of us!

Plastic is forever, with virtually every piece of petroleum based plastic ever made still in existence. That's why it's so critical to our oceans and beaches that we dramatically reduce our use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, starting today.

You can make a difference for our world's oceans, waves and beaches -- pledge to rise above plastics today.

THE PLEDGE

I commit to do my part to rise above plastics and protect the world's oceans, waves and beaches from plastic pollution. I will do this by:

- Using reusable bottles for my water and other drinks. By using just one reusable bottle, I will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

- Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases. For each reusable bag I use, I will save approximately 400 plastics from being used.

- Recycling the plastic bags and bottles I already have. For every thirteen plastic bags I don't use, I will save enough petroleum to drive a car one mile.

Surfrider Foundation now has over 50,000 members in the USA; in addition, International Surfrider Foundation chapters and affiliates have been established in many foreign countries including the Surfrider Foundation Europe (with ongoing programs and Chapters in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy) as well as Japan, Brazil, and Australia.

Information provided by http://www.riseaboveplastics.org/ and http://www.surfrider.org/

Alone with the kids

There is something magical about seeing a Dad on the beach watching his kids...

Where's Mom? She's certainly missing this beautiful sunset! Let's hope she's somewhere enjoying herself as well.

I want to boogie!

I saw this young man comprising whether or not to get back into the cold water and catch one last wave before the sun set. Ah to be young again! I have a few boogie boards in my garage just waiting for me to ride. I can't wait! I am determined to use them this summer - when the water warms up a bit!

How to Boogie Board

1) Buy a boogie board. You will want a boogie board with a strap to wrap around your wrist so you don't lose it. Depending on your height, for the best results, your board should come down to about where your knees are when the top is level to your head (the smaller the boogieboard the more you will be able to turn though).

2) Get up to your waist in water. You will want to be in water where there are waves. Getting yourself in water where there is no waves will make it impossible to use your boogie board.
Be ready with your board laying flat on your belly, with your hands a couple inches down on the side and from the top, your shoulders parallel to your hands, and your elbows bent and resting close to the outer edge.

3) Right before the wave crashes, push off the ground (if you choose to stand in the water), and start kicking rapidly with your feet and you can use your hands as well.

Hold on tight!!

Sunset

We had a lot of unusual cloud cover last night so I raced to the beach just in time to catch this lovely sunset. This beach in La Jolla is known to us locals as simply Marine Street. This was "our" beach in High School. The photo is untouched; aren't the colors amazing? I love nature...



I was surprised to see these children playing in the cold water with no jackets. Yes this is sunny San Diego but it does get chilly and the water is only 59(f) and 15(c)!!

I was not, however, surprised to see lovers on a sunset stroll as I was doing the same thing!

Resting Place

There is nothing like seeing a Grandfather holding his Grandchild.

Notice the lone person sitting in the **cold** waves to the left and the people on the sea-wall watching the seals to the right.

Don't forget to visit La Jolla Cove on your next visit to San Diego!

Lifegaurd Lockbox

Lifegaurd Lockbox at La Jolla Cove

I love lifeguards. San Diego lifeguard history dates back to 1917. Today there are over 230 San Diego lifeguards, making this one of the largest professional lifeguard services in the United States. Of these, 70 work full time, year round. The San Diego Lifeguard Service provides excellent employment opportunities. In addition, our Junior Lifeguard Program, aimed at youths from 9 to 17 years of age, is an extremely popular program conducted each summer with an attendance exceeding 500.

Happy New Year

Welcome to my new blog!

We spent New Years Day in Downtown La Jolla and then made our way over to Children's Pool and La Jolla Cove. What a beautiful way to start the New Year and what a beautiful city we live in.

In 1931 the sea wall was built from Seal Rock Point across the channel and onto Seal Rock, closing off the channel and the natural flow of water to the south in order to leave an enclosed pool area. The project was conceived and funded by local benefactress Ellen Browning Scripps and was dedicated as the Children's Pool. At that time there were no lifeguards in the area, and modern swimming pools were just beginning to develop. Today many children enjoy seeing the seals and benefit from learning about them. It is still "The Children's Pool." see http://www.lajollaseals.com for more info.

The brown pelican is the smallest member of seven species of pelicans. There are four subspecies of brown pelicans, two of which reside in the United States, the eastern brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis) and the California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus). The California brown pelican, as of October 13, 1970 was listed as endangered on both the Federal and State level.