TAMPA, Fla — The cold weather isn’t stopping people from cleaning up the Gasparilla aftermath.

The mess the pirates left behind was cleaned up by the city of Tampa and some local organizations.

What You Need To Know

Multiple Gasparilla clean-up events took place on Sunday

The Tampa dive shop, Adventure Outfitters, organized a dive to clean up beads from the water

Divers said the beads can be harmful to the environment because of the plastic, and heavy metals in the bead’s paint

Beads are continuing to be collected across Tampa

Some people even got in the cold water to remove trash.

The Tampa dive shop, Adventure Outfitters, helped organize the clean-up. Volunteers like Hunter Chamberlin made sure not to miss any spots, not even in  the roughly 60-degree water.

“It’s a little cold, I’m wearing a dry suit, so I’ll be perfectly fine,” Hunter Chamberlin said.

Chamberlin submerged below the surface for an important cause, to get all the Gasparilla beads out of the bay.

“The paint is made out of heavy materials like mercury and lead and zinc; so, when they’re in the water, all that heavy metal leaches into the water column, which is a very bad thing. So, we’re trying to get the beads out as quickly as we can before that happens.” Chamberlin said.

Meanwhile on land, other volunteers worked on getting the shoreline back to normal.

Brody Lundeby and his son volunteered today, but they have made it a habit to clean up trash whenever they are out in nature. The hope is to make it better for the next visit.

“It’s not that hard, we just come out for an hour just to volunteer, it doesn’t take much,” said Brody Lundeby, volunteer.

About 1,044 lbs of debris and recycling were collected.

They also found about 1,800 beads which will be recycled with the help of Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.

“Good group of very dedicated volunteers that are out here to help Tampa Bay be a little bit cleaner than it was yesterday,” Chamberlin said

There are bead drop-off locations across Tampa.

The Copeland Park and Kate Jackson Community Centers, The Loretta Ingraham Recreation Complex and the MacDonald Training Center will take beads.

The Florida Aquarium is also collecting them until Feb. 22, 2026.