Un Granito de Arena Kayak Cleanup

Overview

On Monday, August 26, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with Miami Waterkeeper, Geared for Green, BLUE Missions, and Tripping Animals Brewing for our fourth Un Granito de Arena coastal cleanup. This time was a little different, as we were hosted by Gramps Getaway and rented kayaks from PADL on Virginia Key for our 18 volunteers to get out on the water and collect marine debris! We headed out in our kayaks to Willis Island, a nearby picnic island that has historically been temporarily closed to visitors due to the large amounts of litter generated on busy weekends. This has inspired The City of Miami to enact a “Leave No Trace” policy, removing trash cans and encouraging visitors to take with them any waste they produce. Despite this policy, the island was quite dirty, with many microplastics on the sandy shores, and large pieces of debris within the mangroves. Among this trash were lots of glass and plastic bottles, many half buried in the sand, indicating they had been there for some time. After a little over an hour of cleaning, our volunteers collected over 130 lbs of trash, which we loaded onto the boat the Tripping Animals Brewing crew used to get to the island. As the rest of us paddled back to shore, we were lucky enough to see some bottlenose dolphins passing by. To celebrate our hard work, we gathered at Gramps Getaway to enjoy some drinks provided by Tripping Animals. We are so grateful to all the participating organizations and the amazing volunteers for this impactful event!