Beachcomber finds camera memory card washed up on shore after four years at sea... and now wants to know who's in the photos

All sorts of junk gets washed up on beaches - and rarely do people find anything as exciting as this.

Peter Govaars discovered the skeleton of a digital camera with an intact memory card on Hidden Beach in Aptos, near Santa Cruz, California.

He found it had 104 family pictures taken over a two-week period in June 2007 and now he’s on a mission to return the memory card to its owner.

Time capsule: Peter Govaars found the skeleton of a digital camera with an intact memory card in California

Family photos: The memory card had 104 pictures taken over a two-week period in June 2007, such as these

Mr Govaars had gone down to the beach with his daughter following two days of heavy storms to see what destruction had been caused.

Driftwood, broken glass and old bottles were strewn across the sand, reported the Santa Cruz Sentinal.

But then he saw a piece of white plastic, later identified as a camera skeleton, and spent 30 minutes wiping down its SD photo card.

Pictured: The memory card was among driftwood, broken glass and old bottles strewn across the sand

Unidentified: Mr Govaars wants to find out who the people are in these photos, to give them the memory card



Then he put it into his card reader - and was amazed that it worked.



‘It really is kind of a neat time capsule, given how it was lost and for how long,’ he told the Santa Cruz Sentinal.

A few photos show people wearing Burger King cardboard hats - and there are lots of pictures from the beach.



Another image features a young girl with pigtails blowing out candles on a birthday cake - with an elderly couple watching her.

Family: One image on the card features a girl with pigtails blowing out candles on a birthday cake

Lost and found: The camera's memory card had survived four years at sea and was picked up on Hidden Beach



Mr Govaars speculated that these could have been the last ever photos taken of her grandparents.

He also believes the final group of photos show a day trip from San Jose to Santa Cruz, where the Hispanic family featured throughout are playing on a beach.

Mr Govaars wants to find the family - and believes the camera's owner lives in the San Jose area.





See Mr Govaars's Flickr photo stream here









