If you come across an unusual local beachcombing find this fall and winter, enter the South Beach Bulletin Beachcombing Bonanzas Contest by emailing a photo to:
Be sure to include details related to date, time, place found and a description of your beach-combed treasure.
If you don’t have access to email or a camera, call 268-0736, and arrangements will be made to photograph your find.
The contest ends on the official last day of winter, March 19.
The owner of the most unique find will be awarded a prize basket filled nautical treasures. The winner will be announced in the March 26 issue of the South Beach Bulletin.
Multiple entries are most welcome. Get out there and get beachcombing!
Beach cautions
Don’t forget to dress in layers, pay attention to the tides and watch for rogue waves. Beach walkers are reminded to take extra precautions during exceptionally high tide events. During a series of king tides, waves will run much higher up the beach, regardless of whether it’s high or low tide. Never turn your back on the ocean.
Be on the lookout for debris in the water that can be thrown up onto the beach and over revetments and jetties. Do not climb on jetties or retaining walls like the South Jetty, Pt. Chehalis revetment, or the groynes. Crevices between the boulders can trap you and rock surfaces are slippery.
Do not stand or sit on logs or stumps on the beach. Incoming water washing under them can force shifts that can potentially trap you.
Don’t touch it!
For those searching for tsunami debris, if you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it. Report your findings to Grays Harbor County Emergency Management at 360- 249-3911. If you find suspected hazardous or dangerous materials, call 911 immediately.
Tsunami transponders
You also are asked to keep a sharp eye out for drift transponders that researchers at Tottori University in Japan released three months after the March 2011 Fukushima, Japan tsunami. Approximately 150 transponders were set afloat from the inundation zone in order to gather data related to debris drift patterns.
The transponders include instructions on their outside casing for how to contact researchers if found.
Beware rip tides
As beautiful as the Pacific Ocean appears from the beach while you are beachcombing, the surf can be extremely dangerous for unsuspecting people wading along the shoreline. Think first before wading into the water to retrieve a potential beachcombing treasure.
Due to cold water temperatures, extreme surf and rip current possibilities specific to our shoreline, people should:
• Never go into the surf alone.
• Wading in the surf should be restricted to no higher than a person’s knees.
• If you get caught in the grip of a rip current:
• Yell for help immediately.
• Don’t swim against a rip current – it will just tire you out.
• Escape the rip current by swimming parallel to the beach until you are free.
• If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water.
• When out of the current, swim toward the shore at an angle away from the rip current.
Water temps
The Pacific Ocean along the Grays Harbor County shoreline sustains an average temperature between 45-55 degrees depending on the season and month. According to the United States Search & Rescue Task Force, the expected time a person swept out to sea would become exhausted or drift into unconsciousness is 30 minutes to 90 minutes. The expected time of survival is between 1-4 hours.
