jerseyfinn
TUG Member
It's taken me some time to get some photos from our recent visits to Ocean Pointe & Oceana Palms. We were lucky in that we visit each resort about 4 weeks apart in November & December 2011. I post here a link to my latest Ocean Pointe images.
I stripped my gallery down to basically tell the story of Fall 2011 at Ocean Pointe. Mother Nature whacks the region with storms and swells which end up reshaping the beaches at both resorts. Those of you who go down regularly might find some of my photos interesting as you'll appreciate how much the beach has changed.
When we arrive in early November, we find pleasant, balmy weather as a front which brings high winds and showers has just left the region. A system out near Bermuda stalls in the Atlantic and this brings in swells which create 7 to 9 foot surf the day we arrive. The beach in front of Ocean Pointe has been chopped away by these Fall storms and waves. All of the beach chairs sit astride the dunes where an 8 to 12 swath of high ground remains the entire length towards the inlet as the rest of the beach is gone and the high tide reaches this new line.
A couple of days later we get hit with 12 to 15 foot waves as the swells intensify. Because we sit at the end of the beach where the ocean naturally deposits sand, we had sand bars in front of us which keep the brunt of the swells moderated in a relative sense. The wave surge that Sunday morning just reaches to the natural dune line. Also note that the beach near Kingfish still has it's usual "high ground" look with a wall of sand high above the water. The only consequence to me from this day is that when I awaken, I notice several of those big wooden lounge chairs owned by the concession were washing into the roiling surf so I wade in to rescue some chairs after calling Aimen to advise him that his chairs are in the drink. Unfortunately my cell phone gets swept away by a wave just as I'm walking back to the chair where I placed it for (presumed ) safety. The good news is we were out of contract and I get a new phone on the cheap. And we spend that big wave day watching the big surf on our beach and gazing south to Palm Beach where their lack of natural sand and sand bars had their beaches getting whacked with the full force of those big waves ( which moved like speeding freight trains for an afternoon ).
The photos titled "November 2011 Waves show how things looked if you can imagine pounding surf which occassionally sounds like ripping paper when the force of the wave hits just right. Bottom line is that the beach is carved out, but one can see the sands redepositing with each passing day ( the beach concession guys estimate 14 feet of height is taken out along some stretches between the inlet and Oceana Palms ). We return 4 weeks later to stay at Oceana Palms and we discover that the beach's recovery is cut short by new sets of swells which this time take out all of the sand at the inlet side in front of Kingfish. One has to go back some 10 years to have a time where there is not a wall of sand creating high ground at this end of the beach. My December pictures more or less show how flat the beach running the entire length of Ocean Pointe has become.
Also some photos of the resort at night along with some shots of the area around the Ocean Mall 3/10th mile from both resorts ( yes both Ocean Pointe & Ocean Palms resorts are almost exactly 3/10ths mile from the Mall from opposite directions. The developer has done a nice job of changing the dilapidated old mall into something cozy while the city has done a fantastic rennovation of the entire beach in front of the mall making the beach into an inviting place with lots of recreation areas. Only a few photos at this point as I'm still working on the stuff I shoot during those two trips.
Hope folks find these photos and information useful. I suspect that the ocean has already healed the beach during these ensuing 5 weeks. Perhaps some of the snow birds can comment as to the shape and health of the beach at this time.
Barry
I stripped my gallery down to basically tell the story of Fall 2011 at Ocean Pointe. Mother Nature whacks the region with storms and swells which end up reshaping the beaches at both resorts. Those of you who go down regularly might find some of my photos interesting as you'll appreciate how much the beach has changed.
When we arrive in early November, we find pleasant, balmy weather as a front which brings high winds and showers has just left the region. A system out near Bermuda stalls in the Atlantic and this brings in swells which create 7 to 9 foot surf the day we arrive. The beach in front of Ocean Pointe has been chopped away by these Fall storms and waves. All of the beach chairs sit astride the dunes where an 8 to 12 swath of high ground remains the entire length towards the inlet as the rest of the beach is gone and the high tide reaches this new line.
A couple of days later we get hit with 12 to 15 foot waves as the swells intensify. Because we sit at the end of the beach where the ocean naturally deposits sand, we had sand bars in front of us which keep the brunt of the swells moderated in a relative sense. The wave surge that Sunday morning just reaches to the natural dune line. Also note that the beach near Kingfish still has it's usual "high ground" look with a wall of sand high above the water. The only consequence to me from this day is that when I awaken, I notice several of those big wooden lounge chairs owned by the concession were washing into the roiling surf so I wade in to rescue some chairs after calling Aimen to advise him that his chairs are in the drink. Unfortunately my cell phone gets swept away by a wave just as I'm walking back to the chair where I placed it for (presumed ) safety. The good news is we were out of contract and I get a new phone on the cheap. And we spend that big wave day watching the big surf on our beach and gazing south to Palm Beach where their lack of natural sand and sand bars had their beaches getting whacked with the full force of those big waves ( which moved like speeding freight trains for an afternoon ).
The photos titled "November 2011 Waves show how things looked if you can imagine pounding surf which occassionally sounds like ripping paper when the force of the wave hits just right. Bottom line is that the beach is carved out, but one can see the sands redepositing with each passing day ( the beach concession guys estimate 14 feet of height is taken out along some stretches between the inlet and Oceana Palms ). We return 4 weeks later to stay at Oceana Palms and we discover that the beach's recovery is cut short by new sets of swells which this time take out all of the sand at the inlet side in front of Kingfish. One has to go back some 10 years to have a time where there is not a wall of sand creating high ground at this end of the beach. My December pictures more or less show how flat the beach running the entire length of Ocean Pointe has become.
Also some photos of the resort at night along with some shots of the area around the Ocean Mall 3/10th mile from both resorts ( yes both Ocean Pointe & Ocean Palms resorts are almost exactly 3/10ths mile from the Mall from opposite directions. The developer has done a nice job of changing the dilapidated old mall into something cozy while the city has done a fantastic rennovation of the entire beach in front of the mall making the beach into an inviting place with lots of recreation areas. Only a few photos at this point as I'm still working on the stuff I shoot during those two trips.
Hope folks find these photos and information useful. I suspect that the ocean has already healed the beach during these ensuing 5 weeks. Perhaps some of the snow birds can comment as to the shape and health of the beach at this time.
Barry
Then again, the surf fishing is great out there.
