St. George Island - Apalachicola

Foggy morning beach at St. George Island

02/12/19

It's "winter" time at the beach!! For us, that means early morning fog, cooler temperatures, and quiet beaches. I rode my bike this morning to one of my favorite beach walk-overs in the Plantation - it looks like something out of a rainforest, doesn't it? Nice spot to leave the bike and take the boardwalk out to see the beach.

I can report that the beach at that boardwalk was wide and flat - nice dune structure right up where the boardwalk ended, then a good little walk from there down to the edge of the water. Some sections of beach on St. George have gotten a little narrower - this one had gotten a little wider.

And, looking at the boardwalk that had just been built next door, it was actually up about a foot from the old boardwalk - look carefully at the third picture below, and you'll see the old (grayer) boardwalk right on top and flat down on the dune, and the new boardwalk set up a little to get your toes out of the sand as you walk down to the beach. The dune has built up nicely since that last boardwalk was built, probably 10 years ago.

That's the story of a barrier island like St. George - you see some dunes grow, you see some dunes wash away with high waves, but just wait... in 10 years it will all be reshaped by nature, with another line of dunes catching the sand.

If you've lost dunes at your property on St. George, be sure to be listening out for the inevitable call to put up sand fencing and plant sea oats, usually with the materials supplied at low or no cost. They work!! I was part of a volunteer group who did this 10 years ago, and those sand fences helped the beach recover and the new dunes take hold. With a little assist from us, nature will rebuild those dunes quicker than you might imagine.

It's a great time to be looking at real estate for sale on St. George - values are steady and the market is healthy. Come see us!