By Mike Busch 11-21-18

I tried to get an official update today but am still waiting to hear back from Weeks Marine and Lee Zeldin’s office about the Moriches Inlet dredging project.   However, from what I saw over the weekend and heard from a few of the workers, work should continue into December.

A series of storms have delayed the project, initially expected to be finished by November 1st.  As you will see in the photos below, there is a lot of work involved in moving 300,000 cubic yards of sand.  Last weekend, a fleet of work boats appeared to setting up a new stretch of pipe to a new sand deposit area about two miles east of the original one near the first cut.   The new sand drop off point is at a narrow spot where there is very little room for vehicles to get by at high tide.    I am curious if the new sand deposit area will be the final location or if they will ever drop off sand directly in front of the Smith Point Pavilion as had been originally reported.  As someone who is concerned that this new sand will make its way into Old Inlet, it would be good news if they stay east.

On Saturday, a fleet of tugboats worked on the pipe inside of Moriches Inlet that runs from the main dredging vessel, the CR McCaskill, into the ocean and down the beach.  Click here for some video of this operation.  On Sunday, the crews took advantage of the flat ocean to work along the beach, setting up the new sand deposit area and connecting the rest of the pipe.

The photos on pages 1 and 2 were taken Saturday at Sunrise.  Page 3 includes a Harbor Seal that popped up in the inlet and the new pipe work along the beach on Sunday morning. 

Continued on pages 2 and 3