Where's the Sea Bright Beach?

It's still a surreal sight — barren and surreal.

Heading to Sea Bright over the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, a panorama of sand mountains accosts the horizon. It looks like a foreign apocalyptic Sahara of sorts.

Knowing that the beach lies beyond them is a consolation of familiarity. But, even after Hurricane Sandy's clean-up pushed the sand back off the streets and piled it high and the borough underwent an $8.5 million beach replenishment project, a couple of storms and high tides later, it's all gone — an awful lot of it, anyway.

It was the fourth Sea Bright replenishment in just over a decade, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which handles all beach replenishment projects from giant barges in the sea.

More than a million cubic yards of sand pumped onto the Sea Bright shores and promises of more federal money to come in a large-scale shore replenishment project that's set to cover an unprecedented 21 miles of beach, and Sea Bright's is slightly more than a sliver to non-existent at high tide.

But Sea Bright is rising. Beach clubs are rebuilding. Studs and skeltons of cabanas have been quickly transforming into semblances of hurricane-proof structures. Signs of a public beach resurrection are starting to show.

There will be a beach to enjoy, an exhausted but ever hopeful Mayor Dina Long tells all, as she pumps half-price season pass sales at $50.

"Time is running out!" the mayor posted on her Facebook page. "Pre-season half-off sale on beach badges ends Thursday. I may not be in my home, but I expect to be in my new beach chair ... soon enough."

And she's not alone. Take a look at the above photos for a snapshot of what the beach looks like now, after the nor'easter.