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Jetty Will Protect Renourished Honeymoon Island Beach

John Tischner/SUNCOAST NEWS

Beach restoration continues on Honeymoon Island State Park with construction of a jetty to reduce beach sand erosion.

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: September 22, 2007

DUNEDIN, Fla. - DUNEDIN, Fla. - By the end of next month, visitors to the awarding-winning beach at Honeymoon Island State Park should feel a softer layer of sand under their feet.

The Florida Park Service is paying Coastal Marine Construction $1.86 million to restore the Honeymoon Island beach.

The Venice-based firm will dredge from 130,000 to 150,000 cubic yards of sand from Hurricane Pass and dump it onto the beach at Honeymoon Island.

They will also build a structure engineers hope will keep that sand from quickly washing away.

Hurricane Pass lies between Honeymoon Island and its neighbor to the south, Caladesi Island State Park. Both islands are part of the state's Gulf Islands GEOpark system.

The sand is white and sugary, typical of that found along Gulf Coast, according to Peter Krulder, the manager of both island recreation areas.

The renourishment project will make the Honeymoon island beach much more enjoyable, he said.

The beach on Caladesi Island was rated the second best in America in the 2007 top-10 list compiled by Stephen P. Leatherman. The Florida International University coastal researcher is better known as "Dr. Beach."

For the Honeymoon Island beach makeover, a half-mile portion of the beach will be closed to visitors until the end of October. The beach's main swimming area, however, remains open, along with Cafe Honeymoon and access to the north end of the beach

Construction of a 200-foot-long beach jetty, designed to trap and retain sand, is under way at the shoreline between Honeymoon Cafe and the last bathhouse to the north, Krulder said.

The jetty will help prevent tidal erosion of beach sand, which has been an ongoing problem at Honeymoon Island for several years. Rocks, concrete and wood from the beach have been removed, Krulder said.

Once beach renourishment has been completed, more visitors will be able to use this portion of the beach, since boulders and rocks off all sizes have been removed, he said.

This renourished area of the beach will help spread out the crowds of beach visitors who come to Honeymoon Island, especially in the winter tourist season.

Another portion of beach to the south, and dog beach, already have a good sandy base and are well used, he added.

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