New dredge launches in the Santa Cruz Harbor

A new dredge is launching in the Santa Cruz Harbor on Wednesday, finally replacing old equipment that is 30 years old.

The dredge, named “Twin Lakes,” is slated to begin working later in the week when tides became more favorable, according to the harbormaster.

“Well let’s just hope it keeps the harbor open,” said boater Daniel Johnson.

Johnson told KION during the winter, coming to the harbor was just down-right frustrating.

“You got plans, you don’t know whether it’s going to be open, you don’t know if it going to be closed so you get down here and realize they’ve closed it off,” said Johnson.

This last year, the harbor was forced to close more than once because in the channel there just wasn’t enough clearance to out to the open water.

“There was only a foot… foot and half of clearance down there so you are running your motor into the ground and it just wasn’t worth it,” said Johnson.

Fixing the shoaled harbor wasn’t easy either because the harbor’s old dredge, named the Sea Bright, kept breaking down.

“We’ve been running the Sea Bright since 1986 every year and it was definitely at the end of its useful life,” said Port Director Lisa Ekers.

The more than 500,000 pound machine is something that Ekers said she is very proud of.

“This new dredge will go a long ways to improving our ability to keep to harbor entrance open,” said Ekers.

In addition to keeping the harbor open, Ekers said the dredging process helps nourish some of the local beaches and keeps homes safe by allowing the trapped sand to flow out of the harbor.

“It helps protect the homes, the residences and their infrastructure that are along the coast and it provides a natural buffer and habitat.” Said Ekers.

Back on the dock, Johnson is ready to say goodbye to the old dredge and ready for the new one.

“We are looking forward to it (the dredge) clearing out the harbor and keeping the harbor clean so don’t have to… not go,” said Ekers.

The new machine cost a little more than $5 million. Dredging will start up again in November.

Work on the dredge is being live streamed on the Santa Cruz Harbor website.