Easy come, easy go

Easy come, the recent big East swells moved sand back in along Ocean Beach raising the beach profile, even allowing for a period of dry sand at high tide. Easy go, last weekends' southerly storms stripped away a decent footage of the beach, exposing the rubble placed at the end of the sea wall and again lowering the beach profile, allowing the high tide to affect the base of the sea wall.
Above: wave refraction off the rip rap at the base of the wall closer to the Salt Water Pool, assisted in the agitation and suspension of sand, which was carried off to deeper water.

Above: Thursday at low tide, truck loads of sand await placement, with the newly repaired and extended steps in the foreground.
At (I heard) $10,000 a day for sand replenishment, this is going to be a steep ongoing cost for us ratepayers for the next 4 years until the council decides on a long term 'solution'. A yearly 'holding pattern' budget of between $295,000 and $325,000 a year over this time went up for approval in January for the 2008-9 funding round.

Above: Steep dune faces are showing new growth of vegetation, in the distance a digger awaits the return of the T-Rex truck to transport another load of sand to the freshly eroded dunes between the sea wall and and the poles.

Above: Sand replenished over the exposed rocks immediately adjacent to the end of the sea wall after storms over the weekend.

Above: Monday this week, after the weekend storm ate into the replenished sand placed to protect the damaged sand sausages.