sea
Earth and Surf Fest is Gearing Up for Good Time
Get ready for ONE awesome day of FUN for the entire family at the Tenth Annual Earth and Surf Fest on Saturday, July 9th in North Topsail Beach.
This rad waste-free eco awareness event showcases many of the splendors that there is to enjoy in our coastal community environment.
Things get kicked off at 7am with registration for the Fun, Sun, and 5K Run on the beach, a one mile fun run, and the On Shore Surf Shop surf contest.
A free beach yoga session is offered by Keep Onslow Beautiful Committee member and certified yoga instructor, Christina Lewis, at 10am. Bring a mat or towel and get ready to sweat and breathe in the sweet salty ocean air. Don’t forget your refillable/reusable water bottle. Refilling stations will be located at the event.
Live music begins in the morning and continues throughout the day. We will also have a live broadcast with fav local DJ, Vaughn, from the morning show at Modern Rock 98.7/.
Local musician, artist, and long time beach sweeper, Justina will get things started with an acoustic solo act at the bathhouse stage area. Headliners are local surf music jam rockers, Arise Awake who will get us through the mid day.
Later that afternoon, you get the chance to show your talents with a 2 hour open mic gig hosted by Wes Rider. Be sure to bring a guitar, drums, or whatever you need to showcase your talents. Open mic jam session begins at 3pm and there will be a sign up form available at the bathhouse stage area starting at 2:30pm.
A traditional beach cleanup will be held throughout the day with the crew at the Plastic Ocean Project. Prizes will be given, you can learn how to participate in a fun citizen science program, and you also have the chance to earn SAT credit hours (for high school volunteers).
This is a waste-free event so place make sure to carpool, bring your own reusable water bottle, and use the recycle and compost bins properly. Pack in and pack out any waste you bring that is not compostable or recyclable, please. There will be a healthy and waste-free food truck on site for all your munching needs throughout the day.
Healthy and eco friendly vendors and environmental education booths include: Keep Onslow Beautiful, Plastic Ocean Project, Spring Locker, White Oak New River Association, NC Coastal Federation, Onslow Co Museum, NC CMAST and NC Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, Arbonne, Your Bottle Means Jobs, Sonoco Recycling, Loggerhead Designs, Oceana, Going Green, Beauty Counter, On Shore Surf Shop,Forkful Food Truck, Sparkling ICE, and more…
Thank you so much to our sponsors: KIXX Outfitters, On Shore Surf Shop, Only in Onslow, Sonoco Recycling, Spring Locker, Sparkling ICE, Keep Onslow Beautiful, Onslow County Solid Waste Department, Onslow County Parks and Recreation, Nixon, Dragon, Loggerhead Designs, Hyperflex Wetsuits, …lost, Global Surf Industries, Savage Surfboards, Sanuk, Prolite, Go Pro, Clean Energy Events, and Sun Bum.
Be sure to check out http://www.earthandsurffest.com for registration, location with a map, and event info.
Friday the 13th Cleanup
Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium
Shackleford Banks
BEACH KEEPERS BEACH CLEAN-UP
FRIDAY MAY, 13
Help keep the Crystal Coast pristine on Friday, May 13 during a public Beach Keepers beach clean-up event. Spend the day removing marine debris from Shackleford Banks with Cape Lookout National Seashore, the Crystal Coast Tourism Authority, Island Express Ferries and the Aquarium. Advance registration is required and participants need to provide their own food, reusable water bottles, and other beach necessities. This free event begins at 7:30 a.m. in Beaufort and will last approximately seven hours, including transportation to and from Shackleford Banks. For those on Instagram, the event will also include an InstaMeet – an opportunity for Instagrammers to come together, share photos, and tell stories about the day.
Help keep the Crystal Coast pristine on Friday, May 13, in a public Beach Keepers clean-up on Shackleford Banks. Join us at 600 Front Street, Beaufort, and spend the day removing marine debris from Shackleford Banks. For those on Instagram, the event will also include an InstaMeet. This is a great project for families or groups with children and is appropriate for anyone ages 8 and up. Be prepared to get wet and dirty!
What to Bring:
Water Shoes
Sunscreen
Lunch and Reusable water bottle
Ages 8 and up, maximum 60 participants
This activity is free
REGISTER HERE:
https://reservations.ncaquariums.com/pineknollshores/Info.aspx?EventID=1015
Bon Voyage
As you know, I will be heading out later this week to start my eXXpedition journey. I wanted to share what my experience will be similar to before I go since you will not hear a lot from me until I return.
Our crew will only be able to send about a blog per day with a limit on size, which mean little to no photos until we reach land. With that said, I want to share the film available on http://www.exxpedition.com from last year’s Atlantic trip so that you get a feel for the journey ahead.
Here it is: https://vimeo.com/130924498 or find it here: http://exxpedition.com/film/
In addition to the film, you can also read blogs from the eXXpedition Ascension crew that have been posted since they set sail from off the coast of Africa several weeks ago. Those blog posts are here: www.exxpedtion.com
To track Sea Dragon with hourly position updates – see this link: http://tracking.redportglobal.com/anonymous/panexplore
For other info about the project, see www.exxpedition.com.
You can also follow blogs from eXXpedition by following the Plastic Ocean Project blog site.
I want to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season!
Bon Voyage,
L
Consumer Products out of Marine Debris
Here are some of my fav products made from ocean trash:
1. Method hand soap: Beyond the Bottle / Ocean Plastic
2. Bureo Skateboards: Skateboards made from discarded Fishing Nets
3. Adidas Shoes: (Newly announced) Adidas and Parley for the Oceans
* Wouldn’t it be super rad if they made the adidas outdoor climacool boat shoes out of marine debris? I adore mine!! They are THE perfect non-marking (a must on boats) vegan boat friendly shoes. Water actually pours right through them leaving you dry and did I mention they are beyond comfy and light? My all-around travel shoe and my must have for eXXpedition Amazon!
Here is what mine look like:
I love these innovations…. Let’s keep ’em coming.
Blue skies and calm seas,
L
Sharky Sunday: Diving at Shark Canyon
Here is a video of my dive at Shark Canyon in October 2014:
Reef Sharks, Hawksbill Sea Turtles, and Eels – Oh my…
Sharky Sunday out at the Caribsea
The wreck of the Caribsea has to be one of my favorite places to dive mostly due to the large community of sand tiger sharks. These magnificent creatures don’t mind sharing their home with a few divers and I adore spending time with them.
Sand tiger sharks will occasionally come to the surface and gulp air. I’ve mostly witnessed this while volunteering at the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium and it’s pretty cool. As it turns out, they store air in their stomachs and this plays a role in how they can float nearly motionless in the water while staying fairly close to the bottom. Divers would call this good buoyancy and others might just say it is a good trait since they appear to be very lazy. It might also be a pretty sneaky way to wait for prey.
The sand tiger shark is listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Specifies and is also a candidate species for the U.S. Endangered Species list. This is due to a couple of reasons, in some parts of the world, these sharks are in serious decline due to over-fishing, the shark fin industry, and commercial fishing methods, and also they have one of the lowest reproductive rates of all sharks (according to http://www.auduboninstitute.org), but here in North Carolina we have what seems to be a really strong population that is thriving.
Here is a short video of my dive this past SharkySunday:
Want to learn more about these super rad dudes in grey? I encourage you to take the PADI Project AWARE Shark Conservation class at Olympus Dive Center and then book a charter for some shark diving or head on out to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores for an up-close and personal (from behind the glass) view.
Coastinista 