kurt said:
Where does the new sand come from?
Just returned from 30-A and Destin - visitor review
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Where does the new sand come from?
Ocean Lover said:
Sorry I should have specified. It was not trucked in like at Seaside and WaterColor.
The new sand at Grayton was washed and blown onto the beach by winds and water.
Basically what happens during a hurricane is a lot of the sand on the beach and the dunes, as well as the 1st and 2nd sand bars, is pulled just offshore.
Over time, the wind and waves push it back up to the shore, reforming the sandbars and depositing it back on to the beach. In our area, a lot of the sand is transferred East to West also from prevailing currents.
The brown sand they used to renourish Panama City Beach will end up on South Walton beaches eventually. How much and to what effect we'll have to wait and see.
The beaches rebuild themselves nicely if left alone in almost all areas. Beach scraping / adding sand is supposed to hurry the process and protect structures that are built too close to the dunes.
Not true. The Gulf-front property owners own to the Mean High Tide line. No matter the length for the Beach extension, the property owner owns to the Mean High Tide. Therefore, tourists would be no farther from the private property. However, the tourists could potentially be farther from any buildings on the property by allowing the Beach extension.katmoo said:
Replacement Beach Sand was on the previous BCC agenda. I believe they tabled it to the next meeting, but I do not recall for certain. One of several problems is the lack of pits in the area with white sand. I know Owl's Head and Eglin AFB are two sources for the white sand. I think it sounds so trivial to hear people say five years is a long time for the Beach to recover on its own, considering that the two aforementioned places in Freeport were at one time Gulf-front -- that is ther reason why the white sand is there. Patience is needed. Stop beating up Brad P. Another major problem of beach sand replacement is that while one load of the replacement sand meets the code, the next load from the same area, may not meet code. Problem -- who is going to monitor each load? The County will need more than one full time staff person at each pit just to monitor the sand coming in to the Beach. The County is rewriting the terms of Beach Sand Replacement.
In summary, it seems that many people around here feel the need to accomplish things yesterday. Let us remember the beauty of beach life and understand that amazing things take time to create. Leave your watch behind if necessary. Relax, you're at the Beach. The world continuously undergoes change.
Regarding the plantings of sea oats, there is mention of such in a recent Walton Sun, with info on amount of money set aside and time frame. Maybe SoWalSally can pull it up for us.
Smiling JOe said:
Ouch, that came off kind of mean, Joe. I wasn't beating up Brad at all. I simply quoted him. In fact, he's just about *the* nicest government employee i've ever had the pleasure of speaking to... SO helpful and responsive.
Gosh this is why I don't usually post on forums...
katmoo said:
I say it in jest. Brad is always getting the short end of the stick. I changed the wording from the original thought which was going to be, "Call Brad Pickle and voice your opinion. He would welcome your comments." He often gets calls which he politely makes his way through. He is a very nice guy, and I think he is doing a good job.
katmoo said:
In general, Brad has gotten some heat here before, dealing with people's frustrations. We all need to express ourselves freely here. Remember that Joe is always smiling while typing, or otherwise engaged.
Thanks all for the well wishes. I do have a ton of pictures and I'll try to post some - never done that before - advanced forum participation 101! 
The dunes at Seaside (and most of the places we stopped) look great and do have newly planted sea oats. The dune right in front of our condo just had the fence constructed the week we were there, perhaps sea oat planting isn't far behind.
I agree with Kurt and others - SoWal is worth the wait, the beaches will be back stronger than ever given some time. They are still beautiful now - they will be outrageously goregeous in the near future.
On a side note, my family had never been there before so they don't have any memories to compare. They stayed in Seagrove and LOVED it. They thought it was wonderful and beautiful. They were there the week prior to our arrival and had much better weather (not that ours was bad - just chilly and blustery)
Sue
The dunes at Seaside (and most of the places we stopped) look great and do have newly planted sea oats. The dune right in front of our condo just had the fence constructed the week we were there, perhaps sea oat planting isn't far behind.
I agree with Kurt and others - SoWal is worth the wait, the beaches will be back stronger than ever given some time. They are still beautiful now - they will be outrageously goregeous in the near future.
On a side note, my family had never been there before so they don't have any memories to compare. They stayed in Seagrove and LOVED it. They thought it was wonderful and beautiful. They were there the week prior to our arrival and had much better weather (not that ours was bad - just chilly and blustery)
Sue
For the warm weather, it is best found in May. April is not bad, but the wind will cool off any warmth you may get from the sun. I have learned to wear dark colored clothing, hat and jacket when going to the beach in April, especially for sunset. Even this evening with temperature being around 72F, I feel cool at the Beach. The sand is cool on the bare feet.
Sounds like you had a great time regardless. Congratulations for tying the knot.
Sounds like you had a great time regardless. Congratulations for tying the knot.
Photocat,
Thanks for the review. We were down there the first week in April and they were busily scraping away. I think the permit the County had to scrape ran through April 15, so you were probably there just after the last round of scrapings.
Scraping does short-change the beach-front temporarily, but it's surprising how much the beach front changes, even on a day to day basis. A few days after they'd scraped at our place another sandbar had migrated from the gulf to the front of the beach, the tide was lower, and the beach looked like it was on its way to lengthening again.
I was surprised on your comments about Seaside's beach. I didn't know they were scraping there.
Thanks for the review. We were down there the first week in April and they were busily scraping away. I think the permit the County had to scrape ran through April 15, so you were probably there just after the last round of scrapings.
Scraping does short-change the beach-front temporarily, but it's surprising how much the beach front changes, even on a day to day basis. A few days after they'd scraped at our place another sandbar had migrated from the gulf to the front of the beach, the tide was lower, and the beach looked like it was on its way to lengthening again.
I was surprised on your comments about Seaside's beach. I didn't know they were scraping there.
Thanks for such a great report!!!! we will be heading down in june, I am sad to hear your beach and sand reports...but I dont care, it is still the best place in Florida to vacation 