I feel your pain. Not sure why the entire beach needs to be shut down to add sand. Seems like they could at least do it in sections and leave the rest of the beach open. That's government contracting for you. Good Luck Ron. Beach Papa
I lived in Fort Myers for 20 yrs and went through a few projects there. The last re-nourishment I experienced firsthand was while living on South Padre Island Tx. in 2010 and 2011.On SPI they used dredges in the Brownsville shipping channel and piped the sand slurry up the beach though 4ft diameter flexible steel pipe for several miles removing sections of pipe as they filled it out. It was really interesting how they did it. They would bury sections of pipe every couple hundred yards or where there was a public beach access so visitors didn't have to climb over the pipes and they didn't have to close the beach. The pipes would frequently spring leaks and would send geysers of sand and water in all directions until discovered and patched with burlap and pitch. This method served two purposes by clearing the busy shipping lane and replacing eroded beach sand. Suffice it to say some interesting artifacts were found in the dredged sands left on the beach. I know it sucks for the hobby but to keep the tourists and their dollars coming it is an evil necessity. Head up to Bonita or Fort Myers or down to Marco...you have lots of options. Good luck and HH!
