Carlsbad beach and seawall, August 2026. This shows the beach right at the end of Cherry Avenue. Photo by Ryan B. Anderson.

Beach sand loss in Carlsbad, California

August 29, 2026

This photo shows the Carlsbad seawall and beach a couple weeks ago. The beach had lost a lot of sand due to recent high tides and south swells. Here’s what the sand loss looked like down on the beach:

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August 29, 2026

More sand loss at Tamarack

August 29, 2026

Here’s a follow up to my last post about sand loss at Tamarack. The Google Earth image above is from August 2026. Now here’s how the Tamarack looked in August 2019:

August 29, 2026

Beach sand loss in Carlsbad, California

August 29, 2026

August 28, 2026

Sand Replenishment, Carlsbad 2018

August 28, 2026

August 27, 2026

Big Sur Lookout 1990 (Where it all began)

August 27, 2026

This is the very first photograph that I remember taking in any kind of deliberate sense. I was on a road trip with my mother when I was about 15 years old, so this would have been in 1990. This was taken at a lookout spot just south of Alder Creek. I was using my mother’s Pentax ME-Super with either a 35mm or 50mm lens. This looks more like the 50mm to me. It’s not a particularly sharp image. I was hand-holding the camera and had no idea about things like shutter speed and camera shake. But, looking back, this is basically one photo that I have been basically taking over and over again for decades. Water, headland, coast. Here’s what this spot is looking like more recently, via Google maps:

August 27, 2026

August 26, 2026

Sand loss at Tamarack

August 26, 2026

Sometimes it’s a little hard to judge sand loss at a given location. With the sand loss event at Tamarack in Carlsbad this past month, what effectively happened was the return to how the sand and beach looked before the extensive sand replenishment that started in the early 2000s. The image above, which was taken before the seawall was constructed in the late 1980s, shows the beach and parking lot. Notice that the parking lot was already protected by riprap at this time. Here’s another image from after the seawall was constructed (circa late 1980s to early 1990s):

August 26, 2026

August 26, 2026

Oceanside Strand in 2019

August 26, 2026

August 23, 2026

Tamarack erosion and seawall

August 23, 2026

Erosion and sand loss at Tamarack State Beach

August 23, 2026

I took the photograph above back in March 2018 at Tamarack. That was when the beach was full of sand after a relatively recent replenishment. I went back to the same spot during my most recent trip. I couldn’t take a photo from the same location because the sand where I was standing in 2018 was gone. Here’s what things looked like in 2026:

August 23, 2026

August 22, 2026

Tamarack Parking lot in 1959 and 2026

August 22, 2026

Here’s another photo from my recent trip down the Southern California. I headed down in part because my old home beach of Tamarack was in the news. Check out some of the coverage via the SF Gate here, and NBC7 here.

Long story short, high tides and large waves from a summer south swell swept a lot of sand off the beach at Tamarack. It also undermined the riprap that was protecting the parking lot. In some of the coverage, people express concern about the loss of sand from the beach. Others say that this is how the beach actually used to look years ago.

August 22, 2026

August 20, 2026

California Coast Rephotographic Project: Carlsbad Seawall

August 20, 2026

After Tamarack State Beach made the news for losing a bunch of it’s sand in the last couple of weeks, I managed to get down there for a few comparative photographs. The composite above shows a stretch of the seawall that’s at the end of Sycamore Avenue in Carlsbad. This one was pretty easy to relocate and photograph. I found the historical image, which dates to the late 1980s or early 1990s, via the Carlsbad Library:

August 20, 2026