Milton Pass, the inlet Hurricane Milton cut through Stump Pass Beach State Park in October 2024, is gone. Nobody filled it. Florida's Department of Environmental Protection reports that observations in May 2026 found the breach "closed with natural infilling and accretion." That closure came about 19 months after the storm opened it.
The winter that closed the pass also pulled sand off the rest of Manasota Key. Charlotte County went into the season planning to put back 400,000 cubic yards. By June it had raised that to 590,000. So at the south tip, this season's story is a beach that fixed itself. Up the key, it's a beach waiting on a contract.
How the pass opened and closed
The timeline comes from DEP's August 2026 regional beach plan and a run of photos in the Englewood Sun.
- October 2024: Milton cuts a channel connecting Lemon Bay's Ski Alley to the Gulf. It sits about halfway between the park's beach entrance and Stump Pass, the navigation channel Charlotte County maintains.
- January 2025: The breach is roughly 400 feet wide.
- Park reopening, after an 11-month closure: The Sun calls the cut about 50 yards wide and "the biggest change" at the park.
- March 2, 2026: The Lemon Bay Conservancy reports a shoal blocking powerboats between the Gulf and the pass, plus more shoaling on the Ski Alley side.
- April 12: Kayakers walk their boats across a shoal under about a foot of water where the mouth used to be.
- May 9: A strip of dry sand 20 to 30 feet wide covers the old mouth. Waves wash over it at the 6 p.m. high tide.
It took about 16 months to go from a 400-foot channel to a strip of sand you can walk across. The Lemon Bay Conservancy's March boating notes saw the change happening. The shoal had already closed the pass to powerboats before kayakers were hauling across in April.
The plan to fill it that never happened
In the weeks after the storm, the Englewood Sun reported that the state and county meant to close and fill the new pass. That was a plan, and as far as the record shows, it never became a project. DEP's August 2026 account says natural processes closed the pass. We found no state, park, or county decision to mechanically close it since then, and no official boater notice specific to Milton Pass.
One caution. DEP's May 2026 observation is the latest dated official check we found. We found no report since June on how the sand held up through summer weather, so "closed as of May" is the honest way to put it. When the Sun photographed it in May, the strip still overwashed at high tide.
It also helps to know what DEP expects from Stump Pass itself. The state's Inlet Management Plan calls for monitoring and for moving sand from the Stump Pass channel and its shoals onto the beaches on either side. The starting targets are 25,000 cubic yards a year to the south and 6,000 to the north. That routine work is a separate program from the channel Milton cut.
The same winter took sand from everywhere else
The tide carried sand into Milton Pass at the south tip. Farther up the key, the same months worked against the beach. Charlotte County's July 22, 2026 hearing presentation says staff monitored sand loss on Manasota Key from fall through spring. The winter's cold fronts appeared to be hitting the shoreline, and calls from property owners confirmed what staff were seeing.
A June 2026 survey put a number on it. Rebuilding the beach to its full design now needs 590,000 cubic yards of sand. That's up from the earlier 400,000-yard estimate, nearly half again as much. The presentation also points to recent rip currents tied to a system in the Gulf as a cause of more loss.
The county's project page calls this the second full-scale nourishment of Manasota Key. It will use the same design as the 2019/20 project and include rebuilding the dunes at Chadwick Cove Beach Park. The page lists six storms behind the erosion: Ian, Nicole, Idalia, Debby, Helene, and Milton.
What a visit to Stump Pass looks like now
While the shoreline was changing, the park changed too. Here's how the 2025 reopening compares with the park's current official listings.
| At reopening, as reported by the Sun | Fall 2026, per Florida State Parks | |
|---|---|---|
| Paying the fee | Pay station gone; a sign directed visitors to pay $3 online | Since Oct. 5, 2026, pay at a touchscreen kiosk at the beach entrance by credit or debit card |
| Proof of payment | Not described | Printed receipt on the dashboard |
| Pavilion and restrooms | Pavilion with bathrooms out of use; temporary restrooms near the gate | Covered first-come picnic pavilion and ADA-accessible restrooms listed |
| Parking | About 50 spaces, down from roughly 80, because the temporary restrooms took up part of the lot | Parking listed; no count given |
| Hours | 8 a.m. to sundown daily | 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days a year |
The park page calls the new machine a Remote Off Grid Kiosk and also offers a QR code for paying. The fee is still $3 per vehicle, and the address is still 900 Gulf Blvd. at the south end of Manasota Key. The 50-space figure is from the reopening, so treat it as a snapshot. The current official page doesn't give a number.
The closed pass matters most for the walk. The official amenities page describes the beach running to the southern tip at Stump Pass, and it lists winter shelling and fishing. It also reminds visitors that live shells may not be taken. With dry sand where the channel was, the route south looks walkable again. We found no official confirmation that the whole stretch is passable in current conditions, though, and the May strip still took on water at high tide.
The county's calendar for the sand
The renourishment schedule decides when trucks and pipe show up on the beach this winter. Here's where it stands as of today, October 11, 2026.
- July 22, 2026: The MSBU assessment public hearing is held. The Board of County Commissioners approves moving ahead with the current funding strategy while looking at more county contributions.
- September 30, 2026: Bids come in on the combined Manasota Key and South Beach Fill Hurricane Recovery Project, which also includes a separate 400,000-cubic-yard South Beach Fill line item. Weeks Marine, Inc. is the low total bidder at $29,103,880 for the combined work. The other bids are $44,147,500 from Callan Marine, $49,399,000 from Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, and $54,122,000 from Norfolk Dredging.
- Award: pending. The county's purchasing record shows the bid not yet awarded, so Weeks Marine is the apparent low bidder, not the contractor.
- November 23, 2026 to April 30, 2027: The county's estimated construction window.
That estimated window covers the whole winter shelling season. The bid plans list six offshore borrow areas, CS-1 through CS-6, but don't say which one will supply the sand. None of the county material we reviewed says which beach segments or park entrances will close while crews work. The county's July presentation also noted that the bigger volume could raise the project's cost and possibly next year's assessment, and that the bids would show how much.
The Stump Pass channel has its own budget line, and that schedule is less clear. The county's FY2027 proposed budget, prepared June 3, 2026, still lists a "Stump Pass FY26 Maintenance Dredge" but gives it no construction money and no dates.
Up the key at Chadwick Park
Englewood Beach at Chadwick Park, 2100 N Beach Road, has been rebuilding on a longer schedule. The county's disaster-recovery project sheet marks signage, parking and pavement, fencing, park amenities, the playground, and buildings as complete. Pavilions and the sidewalks, boardwalks, piers, and dock are in design and permitting, with estimated completion dates in August 2030. Lighting is waiting on FEMA, and equipment is waiting on insurance. Erosion work entered planning with an estimated window of September 1, 2026 to May 1, 2027, overlapping the key-wide renourishment. The total recovery budget for the site is $8,493,550.
For anyone who fishes, the county's facilities status page lists the Chadwick Park fishing pier as open. The Anger Fishing Pier is among the piers closed for restoration.
All of this sits on the same barrier island: a pass the tide filled in, a park with a new card kiosk, and a planned 590,000-yard sand job with a November start date still waiting on a contract award.
If you love the south end of Manasota Key and want to know which parts of it fit your daily routine this winter, Stone & Coast Realty Group follows these Englewood shoreline projects closely and is happy to walk you through what we're tracking.
