Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament

Bay Point Marina Continues Upgrades
Maintenance Dredge Project and Fuel Tank Replacement Underway.
November 25, 2008

Maintenance Dredge Project
When the St. Joe Company finalized the purchase of Bay Point Marina in 2007, they immediately contracted with Coastal Marina Management (CMM) to handle day to day Dredge

operations and marina developments. CMM quickly began applying for the necessary permits to dredge the basin and entrance channel. After endless surveys, meetings, hurricanes and permitting delays, everything is finally in place.

Starting in early December, Bull Dredging of Jacksonville will begin the laborious process of removing over 30,000 cubic yards of silt and sand from the marina basin and entrance channel leading off the Grand Lagoon. The net result of this project will be to return the depth of the channel, marina basin and weigh station back-in area to a depth that tournament boats can easily navigate.

Bay Point Marina Replaces Fuel Tanks
The year 1988 may be best remembered as the first year of the Miss Billfish Contest, but it’s also the year Bay Point Marina installed their underground fuel storage tanks.

Holding 12,000 gallons of diesel and 4,000 gallons of gasoline, those storage tanks were more than capable of handling the sportfishers of their day. However, with today's bigger boats, 12,000 gallons doesn’t go quite as far as it did 20 years ago.

With an estimated completion date of late December, the new storage tanks will hold 20,000 gallons of diesel and 5,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline. “This increased capacity will allow us to leverage our purchasing power, resulting in a lower price point for our boating customers,” said Chris Miller, CMM VP of Operations. “With the price fluctuations we’ve seen in oil lately, anything we can do to cut costs is a good thing.”

The new tanks will also meet the State of Florida's requirement that all underground fuel storage tanks be double-walled by the end of 2009. Double-walled tanks are a safety feature designed to prevent leaks from contaminating soil and ground water.