Posted on August 2, 2023
In Bethany Beach sand breaks have formed making a drop separating the beach from the water.
Bethany is fresh off beach replenishment being completed and Joe Donnelly, the Lifeguard Captain for the Bethany Beach Patrol said this happening is not uncommon.
“The water has cut that sand that’s been built up away a little bit creating these sort of cliffs or elevations a little bit from the waterline,” Donnelly said. “It’s caused a little bit of trouble with people getting up and down on the beach.”
Robin Coburn is a first time visitor to Bethany and she said the cliffs she had to go over to get the water have been a pain.
“It’s harder as you get older, you need something a little flatter for older folks or more mature folks,” Coburn said. “It’s a little challenging climbing up there.”
While Andrew Joseph said the cliffs were an obstacle but it didn’t stop the beach day for him and his family.
“There were little kids coming down and they were they were crashing and falling down but their parents would come over and they would go down gently,” Joseph said. “It wasn’t like it was high enough where you couldn’t get off the beach and back onto the beach.”
But even though the break up of the beach may be a surprise for some, Donnelly said this kind of thing is what they deal with every year.
“Whether we’ve had beach replenishment or not we can see this a few times of summer,” Donnelly said. “It depends on how the surfs kicked up or what the tides are doing or what the wind is doing.”
The Bethany Beach Patrol said the berms or cliffs will eventually diminish as the beach goers walk up and down them and the tide comes in.
