Where The Sidewalk Ends

If you've ever made this approach to the beach at Ft. Tilden, you immediately sense what is wrong. Right, you would never have seen the ocean through the abandoned Cold War building.

To the east and to the west, the dunes which protected this barrier land from the strongest storms are completely washed away. Their sand washed across the peninsula or westward, deposited on Staten Island or Jersey shores. The old pilings used to encourage dunes are now visible. This shoreline is now ever more vulnerable to a winter's worth of nor'easter.

This sign, Unprotected Beach, had washed half way across the soccer fields. Unprotected. The most damage to the shore came at locations severely disturbed by human activity and it is no surprise that the wash over was complete around the dunes where thousands hang out in summer.

Inside this damaged structure a reminder of part of Gateway's mission. 

This location, mostly untouched by ocean waters, lies just to the east of the major pass through for beach goers.

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The textures caused by the rush of water are beautiful, despite the destruction they suggest.

Signs of life return on the untouched sand. 

The Jacob Reis beach held up to the storm, having lost some sand, but remaining largely intact. The Robert Moses built ocean-front structures have been built with storms in mind.

The golf course took on water and sand, making it hospitable for the many shore and migratory birds we saw on the greens and floating on new ponds.

The ocean pushed through the peninsula over the road that cuts between Reis and Ft. Tilden, waters ponding in the low spots of the park.

Bittersweet everywhere; their seeds dispersed by flood waters.

A chair, looking no worse for the wear, embedded lightly into the sand as the storm tide receded.