Three More Boats Ashore Converge with Santa Barbara Homeless Camps
By Heal the Ocean
This week, 3 more boats broke free of their moorings off East Beach and landed at various places on our coastline, including the East Beach Bathhouse and below “Graveyards,” near Butterfly Beach.
Boat #1 was fortunately intercepted by the Santa Barbara harbor patrol before hitting the shore. This prevented the alterative and familiar scenario of breaking apart along the shoreline and contributing fuel, oil and numerous toxic chemicals on the beach. Boat #2 washed ashore near the East Beach Bathhouse, but was towed back out to sea to be properly secured.
Boat #3 (pictured above) washed ashore during Tuesday’s storm and ran aground below the Santa Barbara cemetery 50 feet inside the Santa Barbara County line. Carson Chevitz, Owner of TowBoatUS Ventura, is working to get the boat off the beach, but as of this writing, the vessel is still there – and there isn’t much time before it starts to tear apart in the surf.
Heal the Ocean is keeping a close watch on the situation
Less than 30 yards away from where this last vessel washed ashore, there were six encampments occupied by approximately five individuals experiencing homelessness. Four of the encampments were in disarray due to the heavy rain and hightide. HTO Field Director Harry Rabin noted that the camps were situated beneath a steep cliff with boulders above. More rain could have caused these boulders to come loose, lethal to any person below. In interviews with the campers, Rabin learned that three out of the five people had contacted City Net for housing options, but that they have been awaiting help for months.
Boat #3 Approximately 50 Feet Inside of the County Line (Harry Rabin)
Heal the Ocean continues to monitor the Wrecked/Derelict boat problem, and is leading a stakeholder group composed of city and county officials, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Santa Barbara harbor department, and others, to put an end to the constant trashing of our beaches with improperly anchored and unattended vessels. The cost of their removal after hitting the beach is high.
From all of us at Heal the Ocean to all of you, thank you, and please stay safe.
16 Comments
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Nov 12, 2022 08:13 AMHow is the SB county line at the cemetery? Am i missing something here?
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Nov 12, 2022 01:28 PMCounty/City boundary.
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Nov 11, 2022 05:17 PMHa! More tax payer money going to clean up a mess that shouldn’t be there in the first place if the government enforced existing laws universally and used the tens of millions providing housing on government land.
The government & locals say leave them alone, let them sleep on the side of the freeway, forage for food & do drugs and leave trash & feces behind. And if you feel otherwise you’re a bad person for wanting them to be off the streets at a place of safety away from drugs & violence getting three squares a day.
CA loves the free range homeless. They enjoy watching them peck along the parks & downtown looking for food & fighting off more aggressive free range range homeless.
Ah, nature is a beautiful thing.
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Nov 11, 2022 05:07 PMThat camp under the boulders has been there for years, decades perhaps.
Just cruise the coastline and you’ll see them all along the coast.
Since the 80s there have been tens of millions spent to help the homeless with no real progress or solutions despite spending millions in research reports and numerous “first time ever” collaborative efforts. What a joke, “first time”
It’s as if the government doesn’t want to help & prefers putting those millions in other peoples pickets.
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Nov 11, 2022 10:54 AM"Arrrrrrrrgggggggg. Tis was not the storm that washed up these ships to shore. Tis was me ship "the Black Dead Man's Skull" that I am the Captain of gave the orders to me crew to fire the cannons to sink them. They were spies for the King to follow me on the open seas 'cause of me piracy."
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Nov 11, 2022 09:58 AMIf you agree Heal the Earth is doing their stated mission and providing a good-guys service, send them a donation. Most of the labor & time is from volunteers who pay their way on our behalf, HTE still has expenses.
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Nov 11, 2022 05:17 AMThank you, HTO, for your attention to this! Since this is the County, the 1st District, Das Williams' district, it is not in the city's Waterfront Department jurisdiction, so who in the County has authority to do anything?
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Nov 10, 2022 03:11 PMGreat report from Heal the Ocean. I appreciate what they’re watching over because it’s all of our ocean but unfortunately Mother Ocean is taking consistent hits from a few local and very preventable sources.
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Nov 10, 2022 11:54 AMWhat happens if I go camping on the beach??
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Nov 11, 2022 05:09 PMNothing will happen. It is your right to camp wherever & not pay or pick up your trash.
If someone from the government says otherwise it is discrimination & that is not allowed under the law.
To give a person a ticket because they look like they can afford it is profiling.
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Nov 11, 2022 10:05 AMnothing....i've camped out on the beaches for the decades ive been here. from Gaviota down to Rincon. Best place is probably summerland and Hendrys.
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Nov 11, 2022 06:56 AMCamping is temporary living outside of dwellings. So again, why are we who live in dwellings not allowed to set up camp on the beach? The homeless DO have dwellings to go to.
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Nov 10, 2022 03:26 PM"camping" and "living" are two different things.
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Nov 10, 2022 03:11 PMI guess we can all camp at the beach for free now. Lets go.
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Nov 10, 2022 02:59 PMI guess just watch out for crashing boats during a storm?
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Nov 10, 2022 02:02 PMWhat a strange question.