Dredging of Dana Point’s Harbor Due

Dredging of a large section of Dana Point Harbor, a quarter-million-dollar operation requiring that more than 300 privately owned sail and power boats be moved to other docks, is expected to start this week, possibly today.

Silt has piled so high that some boats sat on the harbor bottom during recent extreme low tides.

The removal of 17,500 cubic yards of silt, which rains have washed into portions of the harbor during recent years, is expected to take 75 working days, according to Ralph L. Maples, the county’s senior inspector for the project.

Weather Problems

“But there already have been some delays,” he said. The dredging was to have begun two weeks ago, but the contractor, Dredge Master Inc. of Napa, experienced a combination of mechanical and weather problems, Maples said.

The delays are not pleasing boat owners.

Boats in one row of about 25 slips were moved two weeks ago, and owners have had to go to different dock areas to use them.

Karl de Smit, who lives part-time aboard his 34-foot sloop, L’Errant, in a section of slips that has not yet been cleared, said he was impatient with the delay, disappointed at the lack of information from the marina operators, and not sure where his boat will be moved when the time comes.

“Ten of the boats have been put in county guest docks,” said Sgt. Richard Powell of the Harbor Patrol. “Spaces have been found for others by the Dana Point Marina Co.,” which operates the east basin of the harbor.

Continue Payments

Powell says the county is not charging for the guest slips, and he assumes boat owners whose crafts were being moved will continue payments on their permanent slips, which can cost from $150 to more than $400 per month. Personnel at Dana Point Marina Co. refused to discuss financial aspects.

Maples says boats in more than a dozen rows of slips, all in the northeast corner of the harbor, must be moved during the dredging, but Powell says the county will not accept more than 10 at a time.

“We have only 63 guest slips, and we have to be able to accommodate the many visiting boaters who come here,” he said.

The $244,845 cost of the dredging is to be paid by Orange County’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department, according to Maples. If necessary, the department can be reimbursed from the state tidelands fund by the end of the year.

When work begins, silt will be pumped onto a barge that will then be towed to an ocean disposal site 12 miles up the coast from Dana Point and about 3 1/2 miles off Newport Beach.

When the job is completed, the minimum depth in the harbor at mean low tides will be 10 feet.