On Saturday, we went to Coquina Beach, on Anna Maria Island. I like this beach because, in addition to nice water and sand, they have shade trees, picnic tables, bathrooms and a snack shack. Plus, they have a big parking area so you can always find a place to park. Unfortunately, we did not know until we got there that they are in the middle of a "beach nourishment" project. Now, the engineering/tech geek in me was fascinated. They've got a dredge anchored way off shore sucking sand off the bottom of the Gulf and big pipes carry a sand slurry to shore where it sprays out onto the beach. Then, a crew of bulldozers spreads it around. Very cool to watch.
On the other hand, it meant that on one side of the snack shack area, there was a huge pipe running across the beach and you had to go to one of the built-up sand ramps to get over the pipe and down to the water, and on the other side of the snack shack area, you had 3 bulldozers pushing sand around. Plus, the water was all murky close to shore from all the sand that was being stirred up by the dumping and bulldozing. Needless to say, we did not have a peaceful day at the beach.
We did, however, get baked and broiled, have a nice picnic, drink a few beers, and spend some quality time with family, so I count it a success.
The beach nourishment project is supposed to be finished by next month, before turtle nesting season starts. I hope they can get it done in time. Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, maybe that explains why they were working on a Saturday - although someone told us that once they have the dredge going, they can't shut it off for fear of the sand settling in and clogging the pipes. I have no idea if that's true or not, though.
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