The foreground of this image is of the beach closer to the existing T-groin. This section of beach was re-nourished with sand just this past year. As you can see there are a considerable amount of lime rocks on what is left of the beach.

This island was expanded using a lime rock fill many years ago. There is a good chance that as these dunes deteriorated from the storm surge and wave action, lime rocks were released from the compacted sand, leaving the scattered golf-ball and soft-ball size rocks.

As we move northward along the beach we see less sand dunes directly on the beach, and so we see less rocks scattered along what is left of the re-nourished sand. Remnants of the high water are visible in the sea-grass along the beach where the extra high tide rose to. Along the edge of this parking lot there were plants that were expected to, over time, help sustain the beach in the event of a storm, and a wooden divider to protect the plants. Those are gone now. The image below shows some of the recently demolished upgrades from the re-nourishment.

Just last winter El Nino created cold fronts were bringing high surf to the coast. El Nino began the erosion, but Hurricane Hermine caused more significant damage to the recently added foliage.

Unfortunately, the beach doesn’t look all that far from needing more renourishment.

Hurricane Hermine created a few safety hazards on the beach. The parking lot and boardwalk right on the beach is again in danger of mother nature pulling it into the ocean.

The Florida Park Service staff at the park is working to restabilize the park.

Lime rocks are visibly eroding from the parking lot from underneath the grass and sea grapes.

There are a few places where the t-groins were placed that seem to be retaining some sand, but I continue to ask myself, would a long jetty like the one at Sand Key have been more effective, maybe a more lasting effect. Of course we must also consider the cost of installing a long jetty like that.  I would say, whomever is heading up these project may need to talk to mother nature before they plan their next project. Those two need to get on the same page.

This is what is left of the sea grapes from the old bath house. One more storm, and this tree, one of the only sources of shade on the beach is all but gone.

The parking lot got its share of the sand. Now you can tan in the parking lot if you prefer.

Also, a considerable amount of sand was pushed into the grassy area behind the beach.

This is the northernmost jetty on the project, and one of the last ones to be added. This one takes the brunt of a lot of the cold front wave turbulence. The base of this t-groin was visible before Hurricane Hermine. This northern end of the project was least impacted by the southerly swell direction from Hurricane Hermine. This is one of the last groins to be impacted along the grouping of t-groins from southwest swell like Hermine. Being what appears to be one of the longest groins, and also the northern point, this area has retained a good amount of sand since the installation of the groins and the re-nourishment of the beach.