The Boca Del Rio Park is currently in bad shape with the sea level reaching all the way to the basketball court and the beach that everyone loved is practically gone. But there is hope for the park which is a popular place where families gather on Sundays for a refreshing swim or a relaxing afternoon. The San Pedro Town Council has embarked on a beach restoration project at the park.


Councilor Severo Guerrero informed Ambergris Today that the beach restoration project has commenced and that dredging will take place in the ‘river’ canal so that boats have easier access to and fro the area. There are also plans for some dredging on the beachfront so that a swimming area is made for residents to enjoy in a safer area and diverting them from swimming in the dangerous canal where vessels frequent.

The Town Council has recruited the use of six Geo Tubes that will be used to restore the sandy beach area. Geo tubes are the most cost effective and environmentally responsible shore line erosion barrier available. The Geo Tube is constructed of a spun-bond polyester fabric sewn together to form a custom diameter tube. The tube is interconnected along the water’s edge, then a small sand pump is used to fill the tube with the same sand and organic material that has been eroding into the sea. The final result is a long lasting fully contained sand filter barrier that will stabilize the bank from erosion and filter rainwater and irrigation run off.

The project should take about two months to complete and there are plans of adding more games in the play area and palapas for everyone to enjoy. The cost of each Geo Tube project is approximately $18,000 and filling and dredging about $50,000, a price the Town council is willing to pay for the beautification of our lovely island.

Ambergris Today

Excellent! I love this park.

I don't fully follow the Geo Tube's effect.

Are they just basically a sea wall of sand?

Do they get buried completely with sand or will some of the material periodically show through?

How resistant to puncture and tearing are they?

How can purchase and filling of a "giant sand bag" cost $18,000? Seems that cost should be much lower??????????

I've seen similar efforts where the material showed through, tore, shreaded and looked a mess.

Try google

I've read on them already.

I was hoping someone had first hand experience with them.

There is a geotube at the Lion's Park, south of town and one in front of Casa Manana.

Another consideration for your land might be the low sea wall such as the one installed at Caribe Island Resort and Sunset Beach - they are very effective and eventually you don't see them as the beach builds up.

So did those south end Geo tubes get completely buried or does some material show through? Low tide?

Buried.

Couldn't a similar result be obtained by dropping a dense line of sandbags with cement in them?

Nope. With serious sea action the sand bags will be moved significantly - the geo tube might move but it won't go far.

Some material shows through in Lion's Park but you have to look for it.

One mass of heavy wet sand has a lot more resistance than a bunch of bags of cement. The cement would behave same way rocks would in a heavy seas. They would just move around and separate and allow sand to pass through.

There are some pictures of geotubes in use on Isla Mujeres on this blog. http://bnwisla.blogspot.com Look at the entry for Dec. 22.
Looks like they are using sand bags also. Will be interesting to see how well they are working on that beach.

What currents are at work to have destroyed that beach in so short a time? What confidence is there that a solution can be found that does preserve the beach?

Have you talked with Severo? Anyone on the Town Council? Offered your expert advice? Or just ask questions on a message board populated mostly by people in the US....

My questions, Jesse, were rhetorical, and if I knew the answers I wouldn't have asked them. There are people on this board who may well know those answers.

I'm just glad something is being done. That park could be such an asset.

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply (ex: "Why me, Lord?")[1] Rhetorical questions encourage the listener to reflect on what the implied answer to the question must be. When a speaker states, "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?" or "How many times do I have to tell you to stop walking into the house with mud on your shoes?"; no formal answer is expected. Rather, it is a device used by the speaker to assert or deny something.

LOL ! Mr Jones ay his finest.

I'd like to see the "after" pics to see what that area looks like now in Isla Mujeres.

Did you note how the blogger now refers to other gringos as "stupid tourist" and how much he hated them. Ironic how he so quickly transformed from one of the "stupid tourist" to a guy who now hates the very people that he himself originated from and by all accounts basically still is one?????????????

After you wrote that I had to look at the post lol. Wayne is a nice guy in spite of how he may have come across in that post.

His mood in writing that reminds me of tacoboy's quiet comments when people are standing too far in the road having a conversation or walking in the middle as if it were totally pedestrian.

Maybe it's just me... but it sounds like the tourists he was talking about were truly "stupid tourists".
He wasn't commenting on "other gringos"
He has blogged many times about how tourists go to Isla and have a total lack of respect for the community they are visiting. Sound familiar?

Reading things through, not just picking out pieces, usually gives you a true picture of what someone is trying to say.

Back to the subject.... it looks like Isla Mujeres is taking positive steps to reclaim it's beaches. They seem to be making progress. I hope Ambergris has the same positive results.

Here's the complete post for that day in "fairness" to the poster.


"The island has been overflowing with stupid tourists lately. It always gets bad over the long holidays. While downtown for breakfast yesterday, I told four different golf cart drivers and one scooter driver that they were either 1) going the wrong way on a one way street or 2) driving on a pedestrian street. I have just had it with these ignorant people who continually think this is Disneyland, that we have no traffic rules here and continue to make life unsafe for others.
The balding old man you see yelling at tourists for doing something stupid will be me."

This thread is about "Beach Restoration Project at Boca Del Rio Park"!

The reason for pointing out Wayne's blog was how another place is dealing with erosion of BEACHES! That post is from Dec. 22 and has many pictures of beach restoration and preservation....

That really does sound like San Pedro! Little kids driving golf carts in heavy traffic...drunks driving dangerously...people staggering down front street with no regard to traffic...and on and on...

Glad to hear something is being done to save that area. We looked at some property near there and thought what a great asset it would be if it were taken care of.

Good move town board. A lot more that any one else has done in the past several years. I hope it works for all out enjoyment. What a cool park.

Good move but I hope the end result looks better than the beach at Calderitas (sp?) just north of Chetumal, where the geo tubes are not buried under the sand and look awful.

Unburied material is my concern also. If not buried completely not only will it be unsitely but punctures and tears will also come into play.

I want to check out the existing ones on AC in Feb.

I'd like to use these in front of my property to create some "real" beach instead of my "seawall beach".

Careful, Phil - your post could be interpreted as "negative" .....

But constructive

Looking at the pic above, it would appear (to my untrained eye) that in order to completely bury the geotubes they'll have to fill the area behind them with about three feet high of material (assuming the person in the photo is of average height) That's a lot of fill.... Hope the project goes well though, as it's a nice area of town.