BEAUFORT, S.C. - The renourishment of Hunting Island's beach will likely be delayed until this fall after the state received no viable bids for the $8.3 million project.

The state wants to put 100 feet of fresh sand on the Beaufort County beach. Hunting Island loses an average of 15 feet of sand annually, primarily through passing hurricanes and winter storms.

Many crews that put sand back on beaches already have jobs repairing damage to the Gulf Coast and Florida, said Tim Kana, project manager for engineering firm Coastal Science and Engineering of Columbia.

The state's deadline also caused a problem. Officials wanted the work finished by May 15 so it wouldn't disturb the start of loggerhead turtles' nesting season, said Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism.

State engineers will decide in the next few days whether the project can be modified to get the work done this spring, Edmonds said.

If it can't be modified, the project will likely start no earlier than November, Edmond said.

About 1.2 million people visit Hunting Island every year. The park fees collected there pay for the upkeep of other state parks that don't make money.

Extra sand pumped onto the beach during a 1991 renourishment project was gone within five years.