Sand Makes First Stop In Journey To Menauhant Beach

FALMOUTH- A group of men responsible for the project to dredge the Woods Hole channel entrance and relocate the clean sand onto Menauhant Beach in East Falmouth, watched with anticipation from the deck of a fishing vessel Monday as a tugboat pushed and pulled the scow Mighty Quinn to a location off Menauhant Beach.

Frank Almeida (left) and Jack Moakley of NOAA, observe the dredging operation in Woods Hole entrance channel. The two men are responsible for the project, which will relocate 200,000 cubic yards of sand from Woods Hole to Menauhant Beach in East Falmouth. BRENT RUNYON/ENTERPRISE

The scow, a barge with no engine, was full of 2,000 cubic yards of premium Woods Hole sand and had to be placed precisely over a predetermined spot offshore, so the county dredge could then pump the sand onto Menauhant Beach.
The waiting for the sand drop-off produced plenty of anxiety for Frank P. Almeida, Woods Hole laboratory director for the National Marine Fisheries Service, who oversees day-to-day operations of the massive dredging project, which began last week.
Mr. Almeida stood on the deck of a fishing vessel for nearly an hour in the chilly air with his camera in hand waiting for the Mighty Quinn to drop its load of sand. Nearby on deck, members of the Army Corps of Engineers and Fisheries Chief of Operations John T. Moakley watched and waited as well.
Mr. Almeida hoped to get the perfect shot of the Mighty Quinn’s hull opening, so he could see the water on the other side of the scow.
Wind and rough seas pushed the scow out of position several times, and each time the tugboat captain tried to reposition it the scow slipped again.

The scow Mighty Quinn drops 2,000 cubic yards of Woods Hole sand into the sound off Menauhant Beach in East Falmouth. The sand will later be pumped onto the beach by the Barnstable County dredge. FRANK ALMEIDA

The drop site for the sand is marked by a quadrant of orange buoys and coordinated by GPS. Positioning the massive vessel within the boundaries on Monday, given the wind and wave conditions, proved quite difficult.
Finally, a worker opened the scow, which split like a clam, and the sand dumped into the sound below.
Mr. Almeida said he felt a combination of happiness and relief when the hull finally opened. He clicked his camera at precisely the right moment and got his shot of the light and water shining through the void.
A few hours earlier, Richard W. Heidebrecht, design and project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, stood on the deck of the Mighty Quinn and watched the back-hoe dredge fill the hull with sand.
If the weather cooperates and everything goes according to plan, Mr. Heidebrecht said, this phase of the project could be finished by Thanksgiving.

BRENT RUNYON/ENTERPRISE

The Woods Hole entrance channel must be dredged to accommodate the deep draft of the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel the Henry V. Bigelow, which local Fisheries officials hope will have Woods Hole as its home port. The Bigelow has a 20-foot draft and cannot make it through the current entrance channel.
Mr. Heidebrecht’s team, clad in their orange safety jackets, visited the dredging site and were pleased to see the process moving so smoothly. They had planned to watch that stage of the process in which the county dredge pumps the sand from the bottom of the sound onto Menauhant Beach, but rough weather kept the county dredge from working Monday.
Mr. Almeida said there is a sense of accomplishment with this stage of the project underway, but he said, “It will be a great day when we see the Bigelow coming down the channel.”