SAN DIEGO -- A giant crane will be a part of Mission Bay's channel for the next few weeks in an effort to repair a jetty, 10News reported.

San Diego is spending more than $10 million from federal stimulus funding for the project that officials hope will make waterways safer.

Mission Bay is a favorite among boaters, surfers and anyone who wants to take in the sun and sand. However, most people don't realize there is a danger that lies beneath.

Disasters happen at the mouth of the Mission Bay Channel about a dozen times a year when boaters either sink or flip near the south Mission Bay Channel jetty.

A storm 10 years ago destroyed part of the jetty, leaving rocks lurking just below the surface.

"People will cut the channel close and run across those submerged rocks. That's when it gets really dangerous. Once the boat is on the rocks it's extremely dangerous for the person on the boat and it's extremely dangerous for us to try to make a rescue," said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Rick Strobel.

Armed with federal stimulus funding, the jetty is in the process of being rebuilt. A giant crane is used to carefully place 800 rocks -- one at a time, each weighing 24 tons -- along the outermost edge of the jetty.

Lifeguards said eliminating the shallow reef will make the area safer for boaters, but surfers who catch nearby waves in Ocean Beach are worried about the impact on the surf's break.

"It would be a shame if that was to be really damaged in some way," said surfer Gary Knowles.

The project will create an estimated 115 jobs, and the Army Corps of Engineers hired a company out of Long Beach to oversee it.

Work along the jetty should be finished by December, and then crews will begin dredging the channel and pumping sand onto Mission Beach. That part of the project is expected to start in January.

The combined cost of the jetty repairs and the dredging is just over $10 million.

The last time the channel was dredged was in 1984.