Longboat Key Turtle Watch sets out on December cleanup

The Longboat Key Turtle Watch dispersed on the island's beaches on Dec. 12, reusable bags and grabbers in hand, as they picked up trash for their monthly beach cleanup event. 

The organization does a cleanup every month, organized by Keep Manatee Beautiful. Volunteers are divided into the zones turtle watchers patrol during the season, don their masks and fan out along the sand to pick up refuse left behind and washed ashore. 

On Dec. 12, it was a warm and sunny winter day, making conditions perfect for a morning walk. Several groups found sea turtle eggs that had been washed out of the few remaining nests on the beach when Tropical Storm Eta hit. One group found an abandoned, sea-worn chair on the sand and Ann Quackenbush found three shoes -- none of them matching.

Overall, there wasn't too much out of the ordinary as far as trash collection goes — bottle caps, cigarette butts, straws and bits of micro-plastics — but there was a lot of it. 

The next beach cleanup will be early January.