Padre Island Safaris
Surf and Bay fishing, Bird watching, and Beach adventures
Captain Billy L. Sandifer 84l Flour Bluff Dr.
Corpus Christi, Tx. 784l8 36l-937-8446
email Billysandifer@stx.rr.com

              

  Approximately 280 volunteers removed 1,679 bags of trash from the National Seashore beach and 7 miles of "Big Shell" area beach was restored to it’s natural beauty. The approximate weight of trash removed is 29 tons and the area cleaned is from the 18 to the 25 mile. Mileage is from the end of the pavement. This year’s event differed from it’s predecessors in that it included a "Big Beach Debris Removal" effort in addition to the traditional picking up, bagging and removal of trash from the area by individual volunteers. The Corpus Christi Chapter of the CCA had received a grant to aid in cleaning up Texas beaches in addition to their well known Bay Debris Cleanup effort. These funds could have been used in any manner CCA chose to accomplish this goal. CCA Corpus Christi Chapter decided to invest these funds and their personal efforts in joining the existing effort that is the Big Shell Beach Cleanup. Ten large buoys and tanks were targeted and Derrick Construction Company was contracted to do the actual removal.

This phenomenal task was accomplished during the week prior to 1 March and no large buoys or tanks currently remain north of the 35 mile area at this time.

This event fascinates me over and over each year. It is filled with the most extraordinary people I have ever been blessed to meet in my life. The work and the terrain is harsh, the weather and tides usually not extremely cooperative and the biggest payoff is personal satisfaction and sore muscles and yet they come. Year after year they come. They come because they, like me, believe that each one of us can make a difference. They come because of love for this natural treasure that is the Padre Island National Seashore and for the Great Outdoors in general. They come because they want to know that it will be a better place to visit for our having been there. Everyone I spoke to at the festivities held at the Malaquite pavilion following the working event spoke of the heart felt joy and wonder they experienced while driving back through those 7 miles of clean, natural beach. I stand in awe of this event, it’s results and it’s participants and to borrow a line from an old Indian in a Western movie; "MY HEART SOARS."

Many of the Section Leaders and other volunteers have been present for each event from the beginning with little or no personal recognition and I’d like to say a public and personal thank you to Charlie Krause and family, Don Kraeft, Frankie Eicholz, Byron and Debbie Noles and Nick Meyer and the Team Breakaway crew. As time passed the event has been joined by several conservation minded groups and they have bolstered the overall morale and end results of the cleanups greatly. Included among these are SFCCI (Shore Fishing & Casting Club International) and it’s president, Skipper Krueger, Fred Hornsby and Brush Country Chapter of CCA, and David Williams and all the fast moving, hardworking folks from Coastal Shark Fishing www.coast-shark.com. One first time participating group this year was Victor Delgado and other volunteers from www.Surf-Masters.com. Surf Cats was represented for the first time by Ace Leal and Mike Plover. There are hopes and plans on the part of Surf Cat’s organizers to become supportive of this event on a larger scale in the future. Al Carruthers and Arty continue to represent CCA Austin Chapter as they have for years. My personal thanks to all of you, I appreciate you and I think groups like these are leading the way into the future by not only talking the talk but also very clearly walking the walk. Thanks to those individuals from Team Oso that did participate and hopefully Team Oso will show more interest in the event next year.

Special thanks to The Saltwater Angler, The Padre Island Moon, Gulf Coast Connections, CC Caller Times and all three of the local T.V. stations for publicity of the event. Our sponsors included HEB of Flour Bluff for providing water and other necessities, to Smartshield Sunblock for providing free aloe vera based sunscreen, to "Fishbites" for providing samples to volunteers, funmeters.com, Wade-Aid Wading Belts, and to Mr. Daniel Dain of DWD Pizza Company, Inc. Representing Domino’s Pizza. Mr. Dain and his people have provided wonderful pizza for hungry volunteers for 3 years in a row. Each of these 3 years Mr. Dain has also invested his personal time, vehicle and a large trailer into loading bagged trash in the work area and transporting it to the pavilion. This year he lost the transmission in his truck in the process of this endeavor.

A heart felt THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Corpus Christi CCA for all of your time and labor involved in planning and coordinating the "Big Beach Debris" portion of the cleanup, for utilizing available funds necessary for the removal of these large items and for the great hotdogs at the festivities at the conclusion of the work day. The president, Mr. Troy Williamson, and two board members, Mr. John Holmgreen and Capt. Clay Wernli, are the individuals who had to put up with me the most and a "thank you" for personal kindnesses, consideration and tolerance on your part are definately in order. CCA coordinators with Derrick Construction Company included Tom Serota, Robert Chancellor and David Sullivan of Naismith Engineering. Much of the publicity received locally concerning the cleanup was due to the personal efforts of Mr. Jim Baxter of CCA Corpus Christi and Padre Staples Mall. My dear friend, Dr. David McKee of CCA Corpus Christi and TAMUCC is to be commended for more things than there is time and space to list so his being dedicated to the success of this event, participating in it enthusiastically "hands on" and being an all around good guy will have to suffice. Hat’s off to all of you for a job "Well Done" and to the hard working folks at Derrick Construction as well. I bet lifting, loading and transporting those large items off the beach was a monumental task and your timely completion of it speaks highly of Derrick Construction Company and it’s hard working crew.

Mr. Tyler Thorsen of Corpusfishing.com is my low profile, hard working, brainstorming co-conspirator in this event and this is his 3rd. Year in that position. Trust me, don’t envy him that position. A lot of the work involved in making this event happen each year is done by Tyler and then the credit is given to me. Thank you Tyler, you da’ man.

For the first time, the 2003 Big Shell Beach Cleanup attracted the attention of some political figures. Mr. Daniel Mezza, responsible for the South Texas area for U.S. Senator John Cornyn, and Hon. Terry A. Simpson, County Judge of San Patricio County were present. Former Nueces County Commissioner Joe McComb showed up in a 4 wheel drive vehicle and pulling a large trailer. Accompanying him were a group of high school students from Ray and Carroll High Schools and they were "hands on" participants in the cleanup.

I wish I could mention every single person who participated in this and previous Big Shell Beach Cleanups for certainly each individual participant deserves to be mentioned. Only the dedication of individuals makes worthwhile groups and undertakings possible. From the bottom of my heart I thank each and every one of you and I COMMEND YOU ON A JOB VERY WELL DONE and I hope to see you again next year. But never forget that Beach Cleanups are not the solution to the problem. THE SOLUTION IS FOR HUMANS TO QUIT USING MOTHER OCEAN AS A GARBAGE DISPOSAL.

This event may be officially known as the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup but to me it is YOUR cleanup, not mine, and I am honored to be a part of it. YOU ARE MY HEROES.

Captain Billy L. Sandifer