TRAVERSE CITY -- A half-dozen red and white dive flags bobbed in West Grand Traverse Bay as Mark Leugers counted out loud while he and wife Lori collected cigarette butts and other trash on the beach.
Leugers' Saturday morning was going pretty well. He had already found 312 cigarette butts -- on pace to hit his goal of 1,000 by day's end -- as well as a $10 bill and a nice pocket knife.
"They are all over, it's just incredible," Leugers said of the cigarette butts.
"At first glance, the beach really doesn't look that dirty, but when you start looking it's amazing what you find," Lori said.
The Elmwood Township couple were among dozens of volunteer beachcombers who toted black garbage bags along the shore Saturday from Clinch Park to West End Beach, collecting everything from old wine bottles, beer and pop cans, plastic bags and, of course, cigarette butts.
About 100 yards off-shore, more than 30 divers dredged up debris from the lake bottom and loaded the garbage into boats at the surface.
The annual clean-up effort is sponsored by the Traverse Area Association of Realtors, Scuba North and Great Lakes Scuba dive shops, and the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay. Over the past 15 years volunteers have mobilized to clear trash from the Boardman River and lake, before shifting their attention to West Bay for the first time this year.
"We cleaned up the shore pretty good there, so we decided to move over here," said John Nelson, baykeeper with the Watershed. "There is all kinds of assorted trash that comes off the boats."
Ken Tondreau, of Maple City, chatted with friends as he peeled off his wet suit and warmed in the sun after his dive. Tondreau, in his fifth year as a volunteer diver, found plenty of scrap metal, bottles, cans, golf balls and a few larger items, but said he was somewhat surprised he didn't find more.
"The big things were a boat anchor, a towel and a carpet. I even found part of an old fiberglass boat," said Tondreau, who was underwater with his son and daughter.
"We found less than I thought, a lot less than the Boardman," he said.
Volunteers on the beach, meanwhile, filled several large garbage cans with junk found buried in the sand, including candy wrappers, liquor bottles, suntan lotions, old flip flops and a seemingly endless supply of cigarette butts.
"I have found a ton of stuff. I didn't expect to find as much as I did," said Traverse City resident Nancy Crisp, who worked the beach while her husband took to the water.
"It's always hard to believe people don't want to take care of the place they live and recreate, especially with all the information we have now on recycling."
In the end, "the beach probably provided more trash than the water did," said local Realtor Gwen Hall, who helped organize the event.
But Scuba North owner Jack Spencer said there's plenty of work left in the bay.
"There is still a lot of stuff out there," he said. "I think we could come back and find just as much stuff next year."
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