Methods for compensating beach erosion

A method for compensating for beach erosion, comprising the steps of:

• positioning an excavating machine on a beach, the excavating machine having a bucket;
• submerging at least a portion of the bucket in sand below a surface of ocean water within a proximity of a shore where ocean waves are breaking;
• moving the entire bucket toward the shore while the portion is submerged in the sand such that a pile of sand is pushed by the bucket toward the shore thereby forming a trench in the surface below the breaking waves;
• and
• spreading the pile of sand across the shore,
• wherein wave action of the breaking waves is sufficient to completely fill the trench with sand.

A method for compensating for beach erosion, comprising the steps of:

• providing an excavating machine having an excavating apparatus;
• moving the excavating apparatus over a surface of an ocean while the excavating machine is positioned on a shore;
• submerging at least a portion of the excavating apparatus in sand below a surface of the ocean;
• skimming the excavating apparatus across a floor of the ocean while the portion is submerged in the sand thereby pushing sand toward shore and forming a trench in the surface below breaking waves of the ocean;
• placing the pushed sand on the shore;
• and
• spreading the sand over the shore,
• wherein wave action of the breaking waves is sufficient to fill the trench with sand such that a contour of the ocean floor is substantially unaffected by the skimming step.

A method for compensating for beach erosion, comprising the steps of:

• (a) positioning an excavating machine on a beach, the excavating machine having an excavating apparatus;
• (b) partially submerging the excavating apparatus in sand below a surface of ocean water within a proximity of a shore where ocean waves are breaking;
• (c) moving the excavating apparatus toward the shore while the excavating apparatus is partially submerged in the sand such that a pile of sand is pushed by the excavating apparatus toward the shore, thereby forming a trench in the ocean floor, wherein a depth of the trench is less than approximately 2 feet from a beginning of the trench to an end of the trench and wherein wave action by the breaking waves is sufficient to completely fill the trench with sand;
• (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) at different locations along the beach thereby forming a plurality of parallel trenches;
• and
• (e) spreading sand from each trench formed via step (c) across the shore.