Newport Harbor's Year of Dredging Meets Boat Parade Week

At the September 9 Harbor Commission meeting, Harbormaster Paul Blank told commissioners about a request his department had just received. A real estate agent had asked whether three dredging vessels could be moved out of frame for a property photo and video shoot. Blank answered that the equipment was working under the authority of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Harbor Department could not move it. His suggestion was to point the camera somewhere else.

Three dredging vessels were sitting in a homeowner's view. That has been normal on the harbor for most of 2026, as a tug, scows and dredging gear worked through the channels between Lido and Bayshore. The last reach of the largest and final major dredge planned for Newport Harbor was scheduled to finish in October. The 118th Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade starts December 16, and it begins and ends on stretches of water that were on the dredge's schedule this summer.

A dredge the City does not plan to repeat

The project is a partnership between the City of Newport Beach and the Corps. Its goal was to remove about 900,000 cubic yards of sediment and bring the harbor back to its federally authorized depths for the first time in decades. According to the City's Lower Newport Bay Dredging 2025-26 project page, the Corps began work in the Federal Channels in early December 2025. Those channels are the Entrance Channel, the Main Channel to the Turning Basin at Newport Boulevard, and the offshoots of those channels.

The City calls this the last such project because less sediment now reaches the Lower Bay. The City's launch announcement credits sediment control in the Upper Bay and across the watershed. After this dredge, the City expects to need only small-scale maintenance dredging. It describes this year's work as the final phase of a restoration program that goes back to the earlier dredging finished in 2012.

The quantities are easier to picture in boatloads. At the August 12 Harbor Commission meeting, Public Works Administrative Manager Chris Miller reported that 303 scows had left the harbor so far. Each held roughly 2,300 to 2,400 cubic yards. That added up to about 628,000 cubic yards of the expected 900,000.

The sediment went to two places:

• About 80 percent was approved for ocean disposal at an EPA-permitted federal site roughly six miles offshore.
• The other 20 percent had elevated contaminants such as mercury. It went by barge to the Port of Long Beach, where it is being encapsulated as fill for the Pier G Slip Fill project. The Port of Long Beach's July 31 notice lists Newport Harbor sediment among the material being reused there.

The Long Beach portion ended early. In the City's April 24 newsletter, staff reported sending the last scow of unsuitable material to the port. After that, the remaining sediment could go to the nearby ocean site, which made disposal faster for the rest of the project.

Most of the money came from the federal government. At the September meeting, Blank estimated the Corps had put in about $16 million and the City about $2 million. He said the project had been running about $5 million under budget at one point. He estimated final savings could come to about $3 million, with most of that going back to the Corps as the main funder.

How the work moved through the harbor

The dredger worked through the harbor in sequence, and the order matters for parade week. Here is the route laid out in the August 12 minutes and the September 9 minutes:

1. The channel along the Peninsula to Marina Park. In mid-August, the dredger was working a small area in front of Marina Park and the American Legion, with about a week and a half to two weeks left on this reach.
2. The triangular area at the eastern tip of Lido Isle. Miller planned it next and said the large amount of material there would take about two weeks.
3. The East Anchorage. By September 9, crews had finished the channel between Marina Park and the East Anchorage, plus a section of the west reach in front of the Bay Club. Work in the East Anchorage itself had about three weeks left.
4. The ferry crossing to Bay Island.
5. Bay Island to the remaining section near Bayshore. This was the last reach, scheduled to wrap up the project in October.

In September, Blank said the project was ahead of its overall schedule and under budget, but had slipped somewhat from its ideal timeline. Miller had said the main channel would be dredged with the ferry's schedule in mind so that ferry service kept running, as it had during earlier dredging projects.

The first two reaches on that list are the same water where the boat parade begins.

What the summer cost people on the water

The harbor stayed open, but the work took space away from boaters. The City's minutes record the main effects:

• The East Anchorage was closed for all of August, including Labor Day weekend.
• The east end of Lido Anchorage stayed closed after a commissioner asked in August about reopening it. Miller explained that the tug captain needed room to turn and position a heavy scow for the next area.
• About a dozen moorings along the edges of the H, J and F fields had been displaced, with replacement expected after Labor Day. Before they could go back, the area needed post-dredge surveys, possible cleanup, agreement on quantities between the Corps and the contractor, and formal release back to the City.

Mooring holders should know what the dredge did not touch. Blank told the commission that dredging the H and J mooring fields was never part of this project, and no project is scheduled to dredge those fields or any other mooring field. The Newport Harbor Yacht Club field was different because it sits inside the federal channel. The deeper water is in the channels the Corps is authorized to maintain. Areas outside the federal system are managed by the City, the County or private entities.

Parade week on the same water

The 118th Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade and Ring of Lights runs Wednesday through Sunday, December 16 to 20, 2026. The host is again the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. Boats leave from the east end of Lido Isle each night at about 6:30 p.m. and finish back at the tip of Lido. That is the triangle the August schedule sent the dredger to after the Marina Park reach.

The first public viewing spot on the route is Marina Park at 1600 W. Balboa Blvd., and the channel in front of it was being dredged in August. The 10.5-acre park is the largest public viewing area on the route and is free. It has 177 parking spaces, a nautical-themed playground, a picnic area and a sailing center.

This year's program adds more in the air. The organizers describe the drone shows as an expansion. The drones fly from two places, over Balboa Bay Resort and from Peninsula Park near the Fun Zone, so the shows can be seen from both ends of the harbor. Opening night also has fireworks off Newport Pier at about 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16, provided conditions are safe under federal, state and local guidelines.

On opening night, the first Balboa Bay Club show starts 15 minutes earlier than on the other nights. That puts a drone show, the pier fireworks and the parade start all within the same half hour. On the other four nights, the first Peninsula Park show at 6:45 p.m. begins shortly after the boats leave Lido. For anyone moving between viewing spots, the official route map shows estimated times when the parade reaches each point.

Waterfront homeowners can enter the Ring of Lights decorating competition, and skippers can register their boats for the parade. Both are on the parade's website, and participants receive commemorative items and are eligible for awards.

The harbor in early winter

The dredge is only one of the harbor projects this season. Earlier in December, Newport Beach is hosting the California Boating Safety Officers Association conference at Marina Park. The City's twice-yearly eelgrass survey began in late July and was set to run through the fall. Divers are covering nearly the entire near-shore edge of the harbor, and staff expect the final report in winter or spring. At the Balboa Yacht Basin, Blank expects marina reconstruction to start within 12 months of the September meeting. The plans include two ADA-compliant gangways and ADA-compliant slips.

The City's Harbor Dredging Tracker is linked from the project page as the place to check status and see the map. The Harbor Commission is also posting the Harbormaster's monthly activity reports throughout the season.

Waterfront homes along this route, from the tip of Lido Isle to Bayshore, sit on channels included in what the City expects to be its last major dredge. If you own on the harbor and want to talk through how this year's work affects your property, Winston West is available. Schedule a Consultation.