Camano’s waters teem with marine life. It is easy to forget that we humans share our beaches and their waters with eagles and seals, cockles and clams, oysters and otters. It is not so easy to forget that on Manaco Beach, between Cama and Indian Beach, were Louis Bloom serves as the local “Beach Master.”
In the 1940’s to early 1960’s it was the Manaco Resort, one of the many resorts on Camano. From the 1960’s to today it is a private community beach. Louis parents, Mel and Mary Bloom, bought the resort in 1957, and since then many Blooms have lived off and on at Manaco, including Louie.
So Louie has known this beach for 59 years, and for forty years served as its Beach Master which from what I can gather means part historian, part scientist, and part steward.
Manaco Beach is a gently slopping beach to the -1.0 tide level when it becomes sandy, typical of 80% of beaches between the State Park boat launch and Onamac. It’s always had an abundance of mussels, butter, littleneck, cockles, horse clams, crab, shrimp, bottom fish and other sea life. Now it has oysters, manila clams. seals, cormorants, river otters, and eagles.
Over the past forty years Louie has enjoyed, cared for, and cultivated Manaco Beach. You can see his work at www.oldcamano.net. I will use Louie’s photos to show you just how teeming with life our beaches and their waters are. Louie’s work is a model of both caring for and cultivating that life on our beaches.
Here are photographs of eagles at Manaco.
Here are photographs of or from the raft.
Here are photographs of Louie’s work with oysters.
Louie’s work on Manaco Beach reminds us that we must never forget that we share these same beaches with all God’s creatures and so must strive to be good stewards of them.