Just returned from 30-A and Destin - visitor review

[Paula]

Sue:

I agree -- useful post. I just returned from Seacrest Beach (not Seacrest Beach North, but an area near the Monterray place). We have cottages at the Cottages at Camp Creek and several people attending a wedding locally were staying at several of the cottages, including ours since we rent ours out. Sounds like they had a great time. Was that your wedding party? They came from all over it seems.

I was there right after Ivan hit and have been amazed at all the changes in the beaches -- natural and through human intervention -- in the past 6 months. I've learned a lot about beach living for sure! I agree with the people who have been posting things like "have patience" and relax, enjoy the beach as it is and as it evolves over time and let nature do her thing and support the people who are working to help nature along. Since I'm new at this beach life, I'm realizing that the happiest and least frustrated people in the area the ones who have seen hurricanes come and go and who know that the white sand and dunes will be back. When I look at my pre-Ivan photos and post Ivan photos, I'm not really sure the beach is smaller because it looks about the same size to me from the photos. But I'll look more closely and see if I can see a significant difference.

I remember when I read (I think on this site) after Ivan that "the beaches are gone". Of course, I came to the area to see for myself. I let two days pass before I could bear going to the beach to see what I thought was no beach. I got a glass of wine (well, plastic cup), walked slowly to the beach, and then saw that the beach was still there. Sure, the white sand was gone, the dunes were damaged, but I was so happy to see the beach was there that I was fine with that. And I knew about Opal, so I knew the beach would come back in time. And I went shelling since there were so many shells from the hurricane.

I hope to be coming to the area for at least 50 more years and I hope my children continue to do so long after I'm gone. So, I assume there will be more hurricanes and changes and I'm on my way to developing the same patience with the beach changes that others have talked about on this board.

Paula

 

[photocat]

Hi Paula,

No, that wasn't my wedding but I think I saw it and know exactly where you are talking about!

I guess to be more specific, when I said there was hardly any beach left, I meant more in width of the beach measured from the bottom of the dunes to the start of the water (I wasn't really referring to sand or sand color in that respect).

Now, to be fair, I don't know what Seacrest looked like in 2001 - I was on Okaloosa Island / Destin area most of that time. In that loacation, at that time, beach service didn't have to set the beach chairs up right against the dunes - quite the opposite - it was a pretty good haul to bring the beach chairs from the storage container at the foot of the dune waaaay down to the water's edge. Today that distance seems more like 5 feet instead of maybe the 50 - 75 feet pre-Ivan beach days (I'm awful judging distances, so take that with a grain of salt).

Of course I don't live at a beach or own a place at a beach so from a pure novice's perspective, I would hate to see another major hurricane hit anytime soon there - I would fear the damage to be much more severe simply because, to me, the gulf waters seem so much closer to all beachfront property than it did pre-Ivan. (Of course most of the dunes are rebuilt, still very high, and looking great - so there is that protection).

In any case, I would still encourage all to go down and visit. It is a wonderful and beautiful location even after Ivan (which I think says a tremendous amount for its natural beauty as well as everyone living down there!). I'll try to post some pics this weekend.

 

[Waterman]

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.

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.

WEll said, just relax you are at the beach. You could be in socal and wish you were there like me.

 

[Paula]

Dear Sue:

We'd sure hate to see another hurricane as well, but my guess is that we'll see more over time and the beaches will go through the same thing again. But they do seem to get back in shape pretty quickly, considering how they look now compared to right after Ivan. And I'll be one of the first people to go to the area after a hurricane because it is amazing to see what nature does and the shelling is awesome and the goodwill from the locals and visitors to the area is wonderful because everyone is helpful and has stories to tell (and, of course, I'll have to clean up the cottages and be sure they're OK after a hurricane). In fact, next time there's a hurricane, I'll bring the children to see the area afterwards because it's a great lesson in nature for them, they'd do some great shelling, and they'd have some good stories to tell when they got back home. That said, I'd certainly be happy if we had no more hurricanes...

Best,
Paula

 

[southof30A]

Let's just hope your kids are grown before the next hurricane hits... If not, please be careful with the youngsters on the beach shortly after a hurricane has passed. Lots of glass shards, nails, fish hooks, etc. waiting for tender feet and hands. Along my area of beach (Seacrest) there was a lot less of this kind of stuff after Ivan than there was after Opal. After Opal the glass on the beach was terrible.

 

[Paula]

I sure hope the kids are grown, too, before the next one come to think of it! Thanks for the reminder about the glass after a hurricane. I guess it's not wise for people with young children or a lot of people to come down after a hurricane, but unless the roads or area is in bad shape, I would think the local restaurants, etc., would want people to get back to the area as soon as possible once it's considered safe to get things back to normal. When I was in the area a few days after the hurricane, the electricity was on, many places were in business, though it must have been tough on the businesses.