Turtle Trail Sunday Evening.The high seas didn't create as much erosion as you might expect considering how high they've been. There were a lot of big waves out there. And they were hitting the dunes or very near the dunes on most beaches, but the angles weren't good, and the sand generally wasn't being sliced away.
The above photo was taken just a bit before high tide looking south from Turtle Trail. Notice the sea weed. The cuts here are only a foot or so.
I looked at a number of beaches yesterday afternoon and many were not any good at all despite the high seas. From Bon Steel down to Wabasso, the beaches were generally mushy with very little erosion. I think the area around Sebastian was actually better early in the week.
The best looking beach that I saw yesterday was Seagrape Trail (See photo below.) At the beach access the cut was over six feet high just before high tide.
Seagrape Trail Sunday Evening.The erosion there, as was the case at Wabasso, was in the beach renourishment sand that was trucked in. The beach renourishment sand, although much of it had washed into the surf, was still protecting the dunes and the older layers of treasure bearing sand at the back of the beach.
You could also see much of the eroded renourishment sand on the front of the beach. That will protect the beach and minimize erosion.
Frederick Douglas Park was not cut at all yesterday morning, even though the water was reaching far back and into the dunes.
In the evening Pepper Park was very poor. It was very mushy and not cut at all.
Overall, I'm dropping my beach conditions rating back to a 2. From the size of the waves, you could easily expect much better beach conditions.
There is still plenty of chance for conditions to improve. Near eight foot seas and possibly higher are predicted for the next few days. If the wind and waves hit at the right angle for any length of time, beach conditions could get much better quickly, however right now I'm not expecting that. It looks like the waves will continue to hit the beaches directly from the east, or nearly so.
I said that cobs would be found, and there have been a few found the past couple of days on the Treasure Coast.
As I said, seas will remain high for a few days, so things could improve any day now. It can happen quickly and disappear just as quickly.
Stay safe.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
