We are among the luckiest folks on the planet, despite living on the edge of an ancient sea that continues to gnaw at the west edge of North Cape May.
Our coastline is feral, as are the creatures found along its edge. Horseshoe crabs, oysters, sand fleas, ghost crabs all go about their business as the bay rises, and will continue to thrive long after our neighborhoods are underwater in the next few millennia.
The bay rose about a foot during the 20th century, and is rising a bit faster now. We don’t need any more studies–ask any local boomer walking along the beach what changes they have seen. Look at the old maps of Town Bank–what was then no longer is, our bay now almost a half mile wider than it was.
Town Bank, 1726
Every walk along the bay is a reminder of how ephemeral all this is. The salty, fermenting breeze off the bay is both life and death, the flotsam along the bay made of the remains of critters once as alive as us.