Wiggins Pass Is Being Dredged at Last: What's Changing on the Water and Beach Next to Kalea Bay This Season

Collier County meant to dredge Wiggins Pass last spring and finish before May 1. That didn't happen. The work is happening now. Florida State Parks says the maintenance dredge at the north end of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park took effect Sept. 25, 2026, with equipment working on and near the beach. Kalea Bay sits on that pass. For owners coming back this month, the stretch of water and sand closest to home is a work zone just as the season starts. The other public pieces around the Cocohatchee are also partway through repair or rebidding.

Why the Pass Needed It

Wiggins Pass runs on a four- to five-year dredging cycle. The last one ran from the end of 2021 into early 2022. The storms pushed it up the list. Andrew Miller, of the county's coastal staff, put it plainly at the January 8, 2026 Coastal Advisory Committee meeting:

"It's been on schedule to do, but with recent hurricanes, it's filled in significantly, to the point where people are having hard time to get in and out at low tide."

The county based its dredge quantities on surveys taken after Hurricanes Helene and Milton in November and December 2024. Those estimates could move up or down by as much as 25% just before the work began. The plan called for removing about 75,000 cubic yards of sediment, sand, silt and debris. Wiggins Pass has its own inlet management plan, which splits sand one-third north and two-thirds south over the years. For this round, engineers picked Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park between FDEP monuments R-18 and R-20.

The dredge does two jobs. It deepens the channel for boats moving between the Gulf and the protected water upstream, and it puts sand back on the beaches the inlet's currents wear away.

Three Solicitations to Reach One Dredge

In January, staff expected the job to take a month and a half to two months at most. It had to be done by May 1, the first day of sea turtle nesting season. The county's procurement records show how the schedule moved from there:

The May round shows what the work costs. Cavache Inc. posted the low total at $2,193,750. Arbor Tree and Land, Inc. came in at $2,232,200, Atlantic & Gulf Dredging & Marine, LLC at $2,237,950, and Gator Dredging at $3,795,592.91. Back in January, the engineer's estimate for Wiggins Pass alone was "conservative at $2 million," and staff expected bids "well under that." When commissioners approved the project on March 10, the Wiggins Pass figure stood at $2.5 million. The county's package of pass dredging and beach renourishment draws on tourist development tax dollars, with state money set aside for the renourishment work. The May bids covered both passes, so they don't compare one-to-one with the Wiggins-only estimate. The public record doesn't explain why either earlier round was canceled.

So the county portal and the park don't match yet. The selected-vendor page for 26-8697 still says no vendor has been selected. Florida State Parks says equipment has been working at the pass since Sept. 25. Neither source names a contractor or a finish date, and neither says when or whether Doctors Pass, which is packaged in the same solicitation, will be dredged.

The North End of the Park This Month

The dredge isn't the only change at Delnor-Wiggins. Here is what the park lists for visitors right now:

• Parking lot four has temporary, periodic closures while dredge equipment works on and near the beach.
• Entrance fees are paid at Remote Off Grid Kiosks around the park and at the boat ramp, effective Sept. 28, 2026. The kiosks take credit or debit cards on a touchscreen, and the printed receipt goes on your dashboard.
• The fee is $6 per vehicle.
• Hours are 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days a year.
• Facilities have had a notice in place since April 18, 2025: drinking water isn't available, and temporary restrooms are in use.

The north end gets the most use from anglers, so it is also the end with the most changes. The park sets aside the northern area past the double-red flags toward the pass for fishing, along with the dock at the boat launch. Most vessels can use the launch into Water Turkey Bay, which opens onto the Cocohatchee River estuary and out to the Gulf. The State Parks page is the one to check before a morning at the pass. It is the only public source that has posted current conditions.

There's more work queued at the park's front door. The Vanderbilt Beach MSTU's March 5, 2026 minutes say an engineer received notice to proceed on Feb. 9 to redesign the turnaround at the Wiggins Pass park entrance. ADA plans were still to be presented before the county requested quotes. The same minutes say the Vanderbilt Drive Greenway sidewalk and bike-path phases, from The Dunes of Naples north to Marina Bay Club, were awarded to Quality Enterprises, with construction set to start the week of April 6, 2026. No later public update gives a completion date for either project.

The County Marina Is Still Between Operators

Cocohatchee River Park, at 397 Dockside Drive, is the county's seven-acre launch on the river. It has four launch lanes and reaches the Gulf through Wiggins Pass. Once the dredge is done, more of those trips will be practical at more points in the tide. The store that serves the ramp is in its own repair cycle.

BluWater Florida LLC ran the stores at Cocohatchee River Park, Port of the Islands, Goodland Boating Park and Caxambas Park, handling bait and fuel sales, cleaning and marketing. The company left in September 2025 without the 30 days' notice its contract required. Commissioner Rick LoCastro wrote at the time that the stores would reopen once a new vendor was selected, and that the county had received "overwhelming interest" from other vendors, as reported by Marco News. County staff took over on Sept. 22, 2025 and restored fuel service at Cocohatchee from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. That was a stopgap a year ago. No current source confirms it is still running.

The long-term contract is still pending. Proposals to manage all four county marinas were due July 10, 2026, with a scope that includes retail sales such as bait and fuel. The county's procurement portal lists the contract as "award pending," and no vendor has been selected. Call ahead about fuel and bait at the ramp, especially early in the season.

The River's Private Side Is Already Set for the Season

Upriver, the privately run waterfront is further along. The Perry Hotel Naples, at 12155 Tamiami Trail N., sits on the six-acre parcel next to Bay House. Gulfshore Business reported that it opened with a soft launch on Jan. 12 after about four years of planning and construction and an investment of about $80 million. Owner Michael Raymond's FOD Capital bought the land for $4.8 million in 2021. The rooftop is the part Kalea Bay neighbors can use. Tigress serves a Cantonese menu by Chef Dale Talde, with Peking duck, wok-fried lobster and dim sum. Next to it, Easy Tiger pours cocktails created by James Beard Award winner Lynnette Marrero and looks down on the Cocohatchee. Both are open to the public.

If you're planning a first dinner back, check the dates. The Perry's site says Tigress Restaurant & Rooftop Bar will close Oct. 5 through 8 for improvements ahead of the season and reopen for dinner on Oct. 9. The hotel also lists a Perry Coffee Shop and a Poolside Bodega. Its marina has eight slips, reserved for hotel guests only.

All Water Excursions Marina lists its address as 12345 Tamiami Trail N. directly on the Cocohatchee, with Gulf access and daily hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It covers most of what a resident without a boat would need to get out through the pass: boat rentals, backwater and offshore fishing, dolphin eco and sunset cruises, shelling trips, private charters, and kayak and paddleboard rentals with guided river tours. Shelling and offshore trips are the ones that go out through Wiggins Pass, so they stand to gain the most from a deeper channel.

Tower 500 Arrives on the Same Calendar

Kalea Bay is wrapping up its own construction during the same weeks. In its April 28, 2026 update, the developer described Tower 500 in its final stages. Flooring was going in on the pool deck, the service elevators were running, final paint had reached the 14th floor, and about three-quarters of the exterior was painted. A third-party project tracker now lists the fifth and final tower, a 22-floor, 120-residence building at 13910 Old Coast Road, as open since September 2026. The tracker notes that its dates aren't confirmed by the developer. If that timing holds, Tower 500's first residents will arrive while the dredge is running at the pass and lot four is closing from time to time.

None of the posted dates guarantee when the job will end. The schedule staff gave in January assumed six to eight weeks of work. Nothing published since has given an end date for the fall dredge. Until the county names a contractor and a timeline, the State Parks notice is the closest thing to a live schedule for the pass and the sand coming ashore between R-18 and R-20.

Whether your season starts at the boat ramp, on the beach at the north end or on the Tigress rooftop, it helps to know what's open and what's still under construction near Kalea Bay. Sara Sells SWFL follows these Wiggins Pass and Cocohatchee updates through the season and is happy to share the latest with neighbors, in English or French, whenever you'd like to talk.