Hi Paul,

My motivation for mentioning this is that a lot of brilliant people peruse this board, such as you! I can't figure out an alternative (and neither can the engineers!).

The fierce currents, standing waves, inaccessibility for landing craft seem to preclude use of boats/barges for repetitive landing of equipment and materials. The island is in the Scylla and Caribdis of the east coast.

As other posters have noted, you can't make concrete from salt water (and beach sand)...I think it is the chlorine content.

One interesting thing you might appreciate ... helos. can carry heavier loads in cold air vs. warm air ... not just theoretical, but practical....the helo. with the heaviest capacity is Russian - 2 x 11,000 h.p. gas turbines, 240 ft. rotor span, supposedly up to 32 tons in cold air (like Siberia?)

Wish it were my $$'s ... I'd retire and build kayaks instead. Trust me, you don't want to know the source of the $$'s.

If anyone has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated...I even thought about floating over concrete docks to be used as a cap, but they are even more expensive than the helo!