We got back from the Chesapeake the evening before the nor'easter hit - thanks to the the good sense of my husband, the captain. When we looked at the beach when the winds had diminished, somewhat the following is what greeted us.
The large number of logs and piles of debris had come from further north, Harvey Cedars I was sure.
Most of the street entrances, except ours on 22nd street, were completely eroded making the beach inaccessible.
Dune fence which had been installed a year ago when the beach was replenished, had been undermined.
And dangerous piles of debris had accumulated in many places.
Harvey Cedares, however, fared much worse with piles of logs and fence everywhere.
And where there had been dunes, however meager, there were only cliffs and the encroaching tides.
But when there is destruction there is always beauty.
When the sun came out again it revealed that the wind had created beautiful mound patterns in the sand behind our dune fence.
The sandpipers that I was sure had gone south for the winter season appeared in numbers.
They were undeterred by the storm and began their hunt for food along the ocean's edge.
The berries are knocked off the bushes with a rotation trasher propelled by a tractor or air boat similar to those used in the everglades.
As the berries are released from the bushes they float to the surface.
.
The cranberries are concentrated into a large floating island surrounded by yellow "oil booms".
The berries are guided up a ladder where they are washed, drained and loaded in a truck for transportation.
As the berries are loaded the "red island" gets smaller as the booms are drawn in. The "pond" returns to normal to soon again be drained in preparation for the next growing season.
