Boundary Rock
Boundary Rock
Norma and Finn and I walked the beach out front the other day, as we do often, and I took note that the beach has begun its annual change. The Port Maitland Beach Provincial Park runs for a mile along in front of us, and then goes another few miles and becomes Salmon River beach and Bartlett’s beach before the sand ends at Black Point. The entire strip of oceanfront undergoes the shifting of sand, as during the fall and winter the sand gets pulled out a bit, exposing many more rocks, only to be buried again next spring and summer.
One rock always remains exposed at any time other than just before high tide, we call it “boundary rock” because it is out in the middle of the sand, but if you follow a line directly inland (east) from the rock, you draw a line to the northern end of our property. So, walking along the beach, even though we can’t see over the beach rock wall, we know about where our part of the beach starts.
We own about 900 feet of beach frontage – 54 rods is what our deed and survey says - that would be 891 feet to be exact. Boundary rock is to the north and the beach wall there is the north edge of a guzzle, a place where the water used to come in from the ocean to the ponds behind. That has been sealed off for decades, but you never know when things might change. I saw a map yesterday that predicts tide rising due to climate change and it would mean that our lower field could one day become the new beach, as the map showed the potential for the entire beach wall to be well underwater!
It’s always fun to walk the beach and see the changes. One does get nervous though about what changes we are causing, as on a high tide even now, the water occasionally overlaps the beach rocks. One can only imagine the changes if the entire beach front went under and the rocks slipped down and allowed the ocean to change the pond. It won’t happen all at once, which in a way is too bad – as because it will occur only a little at a time, there will be those who deny the change is happening. That’s a challenge for me – I need to take images of the changes and perhaps that might spur some doubters to action.
At least that’s the hope!
