Anytime that a major hurricane passes south of GCM they produce large waves that reach the Marriott from the SW, which greatly erodes the southern portion of Seven Mile Beach. In past years without the Reef Ball breakwater, the beach would disappear completely, with the waves eroding away the beach and scouring underneath the seawall along the entire Marriott oceanfront (threatening to undermine the seawall prior to the artificial reef breakwater installation). From your photos, I see that the Marriott continues to maintain a useable beach area now, even after this fall's hurricanes, which was not the case in the past." -Email from Dr. Lee Harris of FIT explaining post Hurricane Dean Effects. Photos from Marriott Management
