Surface Motion
H arbor Officials Call Dredge a Success
But the Harbor Still Breaks
Photo by Bill Lovejoy
Santa Cruz Sentinel Photo
January 14, 1987. The Sentinel runs a photo of a kneeboarder in a well shaped harbor curl. At the same time they cite the harbor as being open to boating traffic. The surfers and boaters continue to try to coexist in the same space.
Commentary: Perhaps they pulled an old picture. It looks a little dated to see a kneeboarder at this time. The long tubes of the 70s seem to have been shortened a bit by the incessant dredging. Nevertheless the Harbor Surf Spot lives on.
Photo by Dan Coryo
Santa Cruz Sentinel photo
March 31, 1987. The Sentinel reports that some of the sediment pumped from the Harbor is discolored and has a bad smell. The early reports of a spill of some sort turned out to be no real worry, as the material was not oil. Taken from deeper in the Harbor, the sediment was just organic material such as decayed kelp and darker in color and worse in smell than the lighter sand at the Harbor mouth.
The accompanying photo shows the action of the dredge, putting sand to the east of the jetty, where it can continue to flow downstream.
Commentary: It's interesting to note that this dredging action was the start of a second sand bar, on Twin Lakes beach, that hadn't been there before the successful dredge operation. And so the construction of new sandbars by human engineers continues.
The dredge "Seabright"
Photo by Dan Coyro
Santa Cruz Sentinel photo
July 28, 1987: The Sentinel runs an article entitled "Harbor Dredging Operation Termed a Success." The dredge is down only 13 days from mid-November to mid-May and keeps the harbor open almost continually.
Judging by the photo, the Seabright is bigger and more elaborate than anything seen previously in the Harbor's fleet of dredges.
The dredge cost $2.6 million and costs $430,000 a year to operate. Boat-slip fees are raised to pay for operating costs. The harbor designers' hopes for a harbor that pays for itself seem to be hanging by a thread.
Port Commissioner Bill Lee notes that the dredge hasn't solved all the problems, as high surf at the entrance still poses dangers to boats.
Commentary: Twenty five years after the construction of the Harbor, engineers seem to have come up with a system that at least partially restores the natural sand flow that had been disturbed by the large jetties.
