Umbrellas dot the shore like colorful freckles and bathers cool off in the gentle waters as children splash and chase one another. A lifeguard scans the beach from his tower.

The summer scene is back to normal this year at Pay and Inkwell beaches following a project this spring to renourish them with tons of clean sand dredged sand from underneath the Little Bridge.

The beaches were the center of controversy last year when they were covered with sand dredged from under the Lagoon Pond drawbridge project in Vineyard Haven. The sand was poor quality, sludgy and smelling of decay, some residents said. Before the 2014 summer season, the added sand was removed by the town.

But the popular town beaches that face Nantucket Sound were in more trouble than just smelling too fishy. Erosion had eaten away at the shorelines and the town was in danger of losing the beaches altogether. The second replenishment project has been more successful than the first. Sand underneath the Little Bridge had piled up uncharacteristically high following a series of storms, including Hurricane Sandy.

After much effort, Oak Bluffs was able to secure funding from the government and hired a local company to manage the removal of the sand in June. Liz Durkee, town conservation agent, said a collaborative effort involving the town, the contractor, the engineers and a beach committee managed to make the renourishment move a success. The project was funded by a $289,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a town contribution of $89,000. In total, an estimated 6,300 cubic yards of sediment were removed from under the bridge. The sand was dehydrated overnight and then spread across Pay and Inkwell beaches.

Now new and old sand blend, and while there are still rocks and sharp shells, summer beachgoers appear pleased.

“I think it’s great,” said C. Nilza Padilla-DeChalus on a recent day at the beach. “It’s a nice improvement from last year, the sand seems cleaner.” Mrs. Padilla-DeChalus has been summering in Oak Bluffs for more than 30 years, introduced to the Island by her husband. She said she is happy the town is doing something about the erosion and called the renourishment “a good way to maintain the beaches.”

Joseph Parham 3rd has been a seasonal resident all his life, and for as long as he can remember, Pay and Inkwell Beaches have been rocky. “People just do what they have to do just to come to the beach,” he said about navigating the sometimes sharp shoreline.

In fact rocks and shells on the beach are an important component of the sand. Not only do they keep the finer sand from being washed away, they also wear down and create more sand.

For Mr. Parham’s friend, Len Churn, who is now on his ninth summer on the Vineyard, Pay and Inkwell Beaches are his favorite.

“I broke myself in on this one,” he said, gazing out over the sandy stretch. “Met some great people on this one.”