HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. — Restorative work at Pine Island Beach Park is continuing six months after Hurricane Idalia. 

What You Need To Know

  • Pine Island Beach Park is remaining closed six months after Hurricane Idalia as restorative work continues

  • Plenty of visitors have been frustrated by the park's closure, but there are some promising signs that the beach will come back better than before

  • The only business in the park has been undergoing renovations with its owner hopeful of a reopening soon

The beach has been closed after heavy winds and surf damaged portions of the area. And with spring break on the way, some are hoping for a reopening soon.

What greets visitors to Pine Island Beach Park are locked gates and a sign reading ‘Park Closed.’ There have been a lot of frustrated people, but there are a few promising signs that the beach may come back better than before.

“It’s the only beach we have! It’s untouched. ‘Florida Untouched’ is what I call it,” said Willy Kochounian, owner of Willy’s Tropical Breeze Cafe.

The cafe is the only business at the beach, nestled in the sand of Pine Island Beach park.

“This is it,” Kochounian said. “This is Willy’s Tropical Breeze Café. We’re trying to get it back together and hopefully by April, if we do open, we’ll be pretty much put together.”

Willy and his staff have been hard at work making repairs to the business. Cleaning up the inside of the shack and installing new cabinets six months after Hurricane Idalia.

“It was mostly water damage and the park itself, we lost all of the concrete and sidewalks and that kind of stuff. But overall, we’re still pretty lucky we didn’t get the winds,” he said.

It’s been quite the renovation for the park, too. The work includes replacing wooden boardwalks with concrete and making the area more ADA accessible. But it’s remained closed as crews make the repairs. 

“Six months to close a place is a long time, I mean, let’s face it,” said Kochounian. “I was wondering how we were going to do it again, you know? So it’s going to work out.”

Despite the lengthy time frame, Willy said he’s hopeful of a strong comeback.

“I’d like to, at least, get a little bit of business over spring break. We’ll see. I’m still happy we’re opening. At least I still have the place. The damage was taken care of and we fixed it, and God helped us out a little bit by not destroying the whole place,” he said.

It’s been a long process because the county had to remove the debris, approve bids for the repairs and then get the permits. A spokesperson with Hernando County said they expect to have Pine Island back open to the public sometime in April.