SARASOTA, Fla. — Crews have started working to remove parts of the boardwalk at Caspersen Beach in Sarasota.
The boardwalk took a hard hit from Hurricane Idalia during the storm this summer. The repairs will require an extra hike for a popular pastime in that area: shark teeth hunting.
Carole Ksaizek traveled from Naples to Caspersen Beach to go shark teeth hunting for the very first time but she was disappointed when she was met with barricades.
"We were really sad when we came and the road was closed," Ksiazek said.
The closure of the access road to the Caspersen Beach Park boardwalk area starts near South Brohard Park.
Visitors who want to head to Caspersen Beach would have to walk nearly a mile to get to the area of the beach where the boardwalk is.
Ksaizek and her husband opted not to make the trek further southwards along the shoreline but instead chose to make do with staying at Venice Beach.
"Unfortunately, we had to walk extra but I enjoy walking so it was a good extra hike," Ksaizek said.
"In some places, the boardwalk will stop, and at some places, we will add new stairs to make it the most accessible and usable that we can," said Nicole Rissler with Sarasota County Parks.
The beach, like many in the area, has seen significant erosion over the course of the last five to 10 years, according to county officials.
They say while beach replenishment is not in the works – there are other plans to help mitigate the loss of beach and shoreline.
"Even moving the road in the future to protect it, looking at what access points we can have to the beach that might not be boardwalk but they might be an upgrade moving forward," Rissler said.
Despite the slight inconvenience to her plans, Ksaizek said she was still having some luck with her shark teeth hunting at Venice Beach.
"We actually found some and we just came to the nearest area, and we found a bunch," Ksiazek said.
The restrooms near the Venetian Waterway Park trail will remain open for beach visitors but no vehicle traffic will be allowed in the Caspersen Park area.
County officials have said that this would be a very temporary inconvenience and the project would take about a week to complete.