An old bicycle, some toys, buckets, and a garden hose were among the found items.

It wasn't a yard sale or a good shopping day at the local thrift store.

It was the annual Earth Day "Dive Against Debris," hosted by Buzzards Bay Dive on Sunday, April 22. Those items and many others were plucked from Onset Bay by volunteer divers.

The Buzzards Bay Dive Center has coordinated the annual Earth Day clean-up dive at the Onset Pier for the past eight years.

"We've grown up here," Steve Carey of the Buzzards Bay Dive Center explained was one of the reasons the center and its divers help clear sunken trash from Onset Bay each year. The event is always held on or around Earth Day.

The Dive Against Debris is a national event of the Professional Association of Driving Instructors (PADI) and Project AWARE, a foundation that works to protect the ocean.

A team of 10 divers swam to the ocean floor of Onset Bay on Sunday while four helpers on land received everything from a bicycle frame to unopened beer bottles from the divers as they returned to the surface.

Carey said the divers' hauls have been getting lighter since the center has been sending out a clean-up team each Earth Day. He added that he thinks many of the items found were dropped accidentally.

"We had a full Heineken, a full Corona, and a full bottle of orange juice!" he said, noting that most people don't let those things go on purpose.

In past years, divers have found a laptop and countless cell phones.

Along with the debris came ocean dwellers -- mostly crabs. A crab had actually grown inside one of the empty bottles, and had unfortunately gotten too large to get out.

"I think people need to be more aware of the impact they cause," Carey noted.

Carey thanked the town for its support of the dive. After marveling at the morning's haul, the crew filled the dumpster at the pier with the trash.

"We've always had good support from the town on this," he said.

For more information about the Buzzards Bay Dive Center, visit www.buzzardsbaydivecenter.com. To learn more about Project AWARE, visit www.projectaware.org.