Posted on July 15, 2026
They are wide, fluffy and, by all accounts, beautiful.
They are also virtually shell-free – an important thing to know for people who are worried about stepping on something jagged during strolls along the shoreline.
Replenished with nearly 500,000 cubic yards of new sand, Sea Isle City’s beaches are now postcard-picture perfect.
Do they still send postcards these days?
Well, whatever. Any way you look at it, the beaches will be far more attractive for the legions of tourists who visit Sea Isle this summer.
“I’ve received nothing but compliments about just how beautiful the beach is now,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.
Desiderio announced Tuesday during a City Council meeting that the beach replenishment project that began in June has been completed, except for some remaining work to restore the pathway leading over the dunes at John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
“I want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during the replenishment project,” he said. “I know this was an inconvenience, but as most everyone knows, this was a critical project that helps to maintain the viability of our beaches.”
The beach pathway over the dunes at John F. Kennedy Boulevard is being restored.
Sea Isle is the first of five Cape May County shore communities that are benefiting from beach replenishment projects this summer largely funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protect. The other towns are Ocean City, Strathmere, Avalon and Stone Harbor.
The timing of Sea Isle’s project occurred right as the summer vacation season was getting underway, including the pivotal Fourth of July weekend.
During the work, Sea Isle had to close stretches of the beach to protect the public from the excavators, bulldozers and other heavy construction equipment used for the replenishment project. No more than 1,000 feet of the beachfront was closed at any one time.
The contractor, Norfolk Dredging Co. of Chesapeake, Virginia, is in the process of removing its equipment to free up the entire beach now that the project is wrapping up.
Altogether, more than a mile of the formerly storm-eroded beachfront was restored with 479,000 cubic yards of fresh sand from 29th Street to 55th Street.
The sand was dredged from a “borrow area” located about three miles offshore of Sea Isle and pumped onto the beaches through a network of giant pipes.
Vacationers Charlie and Janice Duffy are impressed by the replenished beaches.
Florida residents Charlie and Janice Duffy, who are vacationing with family in Sea Isle, marveled over the replenished beaches while relaxing Tuesday afternoon under a cabana close to the water’s edge.
“I like it. It’s fluffy and debris-free. The distance is just right,” Charlie said of how wide the beach is now with the new sand.
“I like how the sand is flatter now. It makes a difference when you walk across it,” Janice added.
Carole Yoder, a Sea Isle beach tag inspector, said she has heard nothing but raves about the replenished beaches.
“One guy just walked by and said, ‘Wow, look at this beach,’” Yoder said.
Beachgoers have also told Yoder they are happy that the new sand is virtually free of sharp seashells.
“It doesn’t have any broken shells or any stones. Maybe there are a few pebbles. But mainly it’s sandy – soft sand,” Yoder said.
Sea Isle City beach tag inspector Carole Yoder is hearing raves about the replenished shoreline.
Besides the aesthetic value of having wide, beautiful beaches, all of the new sand will help to protect Sea Isle’s homes, businesses and other property during coastal storms.
Some Jersey Shore towns have been struggling with severe erosion to their beaches and dunes caused by a series of offshore hurricanes and coastal storms in recent months.
Strathmere, for instance, recently was forced to demolish its former Beach Patrol headquarters after erosion washed away part of the dune under the building.
On April 6, South Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who represents the shore communities, announced plans by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to spend $99 million in federal funding for beach replenishment projects in Sea Isle, Ocean City, Strathmere, Avalon and Stone Harbor.
The project has created a wide expanse of sand.
Sea Isle and Strathmere are part of a $21.6 million beach replenishment contract. The Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection pay for the majority of the beach projects, but the towns kick in their share.
Mayor Desiderio said the project – and all of the benefits – are well worth the cost to Sea Isle.
“When they say they have the money to do it, you do it,” Desiderio explained of Sea Isle joining with the state and federal government to replenish the beaches.
