In less than three hours, more than 30 Save Cuesta Inlet volunteers filled two dumpsters with 31 boats and 10 catamarans. All in all, we removed 75 boats from the inlet — some voluntarily removed by their owners, and the rest that had crossed into the "trash" category: abandoned, damaged, waterlogged, and no longer seaworthy, left to break down on the shoreline and in the water.
This was a huge undertaking led by our Boats Committee, who over the past year have made thousands of phone calls to boat owners, captured aerial footage and mapped the inlet, and documented every single boat — tracking the count down from 750 to 698. That's on top of countless hours of work behind the scenes.
ECOSLO also brought an additional 30+ volunteers who have collected 200+ lbs of trash, including broken boat pieces, disintegrated oars, rebar, plastic bags, misc plastic, and more. Thank you, ECOSLO and Waste Connections San Luis Obispo, for each sponsoring two dumpsters!
A limited number of Cuesta Inlet boats are now looking for new owners. Our first boat cleanup has cleared the way for a handful of boats that are ready for their next adventure.
Starting Friday, September 25, visit the Trash to Treasure map to see the available boats. Then from Saturday morning, September 26 at 7:00 AM to Sunday evening, September 27, you may come pick up boats at the designated location.
First come, first serve.
IMAGES FROM CLEANUP NO. 1
One important note: Newly adopted boats may be launched from Cuesta Inlet at any time, but may not be stored at the Inlet until all phases of our boat cleanup are complete, which we expect sometime next year.
Over 700 boats populate the Cuesta Inlet shoreline and property. The Save Cuesta Inlet Boat Identification Project is aimed at identifying abandoned and damaged boats and removing them from the property.
Video by Sandra Chandler, © 2026