Capo Beach walkway collapses, a tragic victim of big surf and coastal erosion

Capo Beach is crumbling.

First, waves tossed around and ate away at fire rings that eventually had to be removed for safety concerns. Decades-old palm trees keeled over, roots exposed from erosion. Some had to be hauled off from their beachfront spots on the sand.

Now, the concrete beach walkway at Capistrano Beach has collapsed after recent hurricane swells – coupled with extreme high tides – wreaked havoc in the past few weeks on the small stretch of beach on the south end of Dana Point.

“I just wish there was a way the sand would magically come back,” said Toni Nelson, a Capistrano Beach resident who has kept a close eye on the area’s continued destruction. “It just seems like everyday, we have some kind of huge swell out there, it just keeps beating up our poor beach.”

Could what’s happening at Capo Beach – eroding beaches that allow waves dangerously close to beachfront homes and parking lots – be a glimpse into the future of California’s coastline?

Vanishing beaches

A stretch of beach in Ventura went through something similar, until the sand completely disappeared.

Other areas like San Onofre, a popular surf spot just south of San Clemente, needed an emergency repair in the form of big boulders creating a wall to hold up an access road into the secluded beach.

Rick Erkeneff, chairman for South County Surfrider chapter, said these could be indicators of what’s to come with sea-level rise.

He said there’s typically three solutions:

1. Do nothing.
2. Armor the beach with big rocks — however, this short-term solution can stop sand flow from ever replenishing the beach.
3. “Managed retreat,” i.e. eliminate parking lots, developments and structures to allow a beach to naturally replenish.

The last option is what officials and organizers decided to pursue for a stretch of eroding beach in Ventura, where waves were overtaking valuable beach space. They pushed sidewalks, paths and parking lots away from the waterline to widen the beach.

“There’s dunes coming back, there’s sand staying there,” Erkeneff said. “There are some solutions that work when you retreat and allow natural flow to happen… It’s a really cool case study that proves that this can work.”

One problem with Capistrano Beach – and nearby San Clemente – is that urban development has “choked” out all of the sediment supply that would naturally bring down sand from creeks to the ocean.

“When you choke off all that sediment, the beaches diminish,” he said.

He points to areas like Mission Viejo, where development has overtaken nature.

“This used to be a dynamic watershed, but now it’s gone,” he said.

He said that stretch of beach is especially vulnerable.

“It’s not getting any better,” he said. “When we get a big swell and a proper king tide, it’s going to be catastrophic.”

Efforts to haul sand in or dredge it to add to the beach can be frustrating as winter storms come and wash it away or take it offshore.

“Mother Nature laughs last,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a short-term solution here, we need to do a serious plan. If it’s taking out a row of parking lot to allow people to have a sliver of beach, we need to do that.”

No magic solution

Nelson, who runs a Facebook page called Capo Cares, knew the day would come when the concrete would give out.

For six years, she’s kept tabs on what’s happening along her favorite stretch of beach, which is managed by the county of Orange.

First, a gate was washed away. Then, two volleyball courts toppled as the sea took away the sand, with only a metal frame abandoned on the beach to mark their existence.

“I called the County and said ‘maybe you can remove that. It just makes us feel bad, nobody can play volleyball,” she said.

So she wasn’t surprised when two weeks ago she saw the concrete sidewalk starting to buckle, or when other residents sent her images of the walkway lifted up, cracked and crumbled.

There was a glimmer of hope three years ago when sand from a dredging project in the nearby Dana Point Harbor was dumped right offshore to attempt to replenish the beach.

“It was gone in a month,” Nelson said. “There’s no point.”

Whenever the sea ravages the area, pushing sand and rocks and concrete benches onto the parking lot, the county shuts down the lot and sends a clean up crew to deal with the mess.

But something must be done for the long-term, Nelson said.

“My wish for Capo Beach is that we’re able to preserve it for the community and visitors, so people can at least get in and use it,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any magic solution.”

Not long ago, she saw one couple show up during a high tide, but the waves blanketed the beach, leaving no sand to enjoy.

“They backed their car in, opened their hatchback and their car became their beach place,” she said.

“There was no place to lay their towel.”