The Weather Channel sure got it wrong for today. Today was perfect! September is only a few days away and there was the hint of fall in the air. I have no doubt there will be more hot days when children and teachers will wish they were at the beach. Even if I didn't  look at the calendar I couldn't help but realize that school vacation time is over because there was so little activity on the bay today. Even the pirate ship was on a limited schedule. 

So little movement gave me no opportunity to try my video making skills to place on this blog. I need something that moves! 

I'll try again tomorrow, when, if we're lucky, the sand trucks will roll in. 

I was watching the weather channel a few minutes ago and they are predicting storms for all of this week. As you can see from these pictures the pond doesn't need more rain. 

                                                     Water In The Pond                                                                               

Walkers Pond covers 8.2 acres of water. At one point this week we went from almost no water, as you can see in the August 4, photo, to water past the 1/2 mark on the blue pipe. From 3 P.M on Thursday, when the valve was opened to allow water to run out, until today the mark on the pipe only indicated that 2 inches of water had gone back into the bay. The opening is much smaller than the grate you see on the top. Until the shoreline is finished and the plants are in the ground, the outfall pipe will have to be carefully monitored. 

Keep watching the Blog because I will take picture daily when they begin work. I'm not going to make any big promise to you, but I'm going to try getting video to you. 

                                       THE EARLY BIRDS

The birds love when we bring in water from the Assawoman Bay.We brought in water  last week and Walkers Pond had a good drink. Today we are letting water out of the pond because we finally had RAIN. The rain was significant, causing puddles to stand on the new shoreline. 

If things go according to plan I will be posting the progress of Goody Hill bringing in sand AND spreading with grading. Thanks to Goody Hill our pond's Bahia shoreline will be ready to plant. There really are good people left in this world! 

               HOW DID THEY GET OUT THERE?

These people either swam out to the little island before Fenwick Ditch or someone dropped them off. Click on the picture to fill your screen and you will see they have a bucket for collecting something. I've often wondered if you could catch soft crabs on that marsh. 

Enjoy the sunset.

At the last board of directors meeting of the Montego Bay Civic Association, I was asked if I had a time frame for the completion of Walkers Pond restoration. No, we don't. If we would have had the money to pay for sand, and money to pay contractors to come in with grading equipment , we could have put a completion clause in their contract, then we know the work would be done in a timely manor. The money wasn't there and our Civic Association, the owner of all the amenities in this community, which includes Walkers Pond and the adjacent park, does not have the funds to do this much needed work. For this very reason we, in the pond community, decided to form a non-profit organization: Friends of Walkers Pond, LTD.

Because of our non-profit status, The Town of Ocean City was able to give us the outfall pipe, construction companies gave us the sand. Town of Ocean City's Mayor and Council appropriated funds to have Public Works spread the sand and create the shoreline you now see. 

Did we know when the sand would arrive? No. Did we know when the Town would have the time to spread the sand? No. Dealing with uncertainty is difficult. You can't make plans that require a date on the calendar. 

Right now we are waiting for the sand to complete the shoreline for Bahia. The sand has been promised to us by Goody Hill. Goody Hill won't have the sand to give to us until the building contractors finish their part of the development so Goody Hill can put in curbs and gutter. They go in last. THEN the new sand needs to be spread. Montego Bay Civic Association says they have no funds for this. 

Time is growing short for planting, and plant we must or the new sand will wash into the pond over the winter months. 

Because of the generosity of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program  we have the funds to buy the plants and we have the volunteers to plant them. 

We can ask God's blessing on our work, but we can't ask God to do our work. That's up to us. Now we must establish guidelines and objective for the water level of the pond. Remember the very important meetings on 18 August. The pond needs you.

                                                 PROGRESS

This photo was taken by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources,  1972, in the early stages of development of the Montego Bay community. If you search back in the Blog's early archives you will see what this area was in 1932. Yes, it was a cove in the Assawoman Bay, with water that ebbed and flowed, plentiful hard and soft crabs, clams and flounder. Harbour Drive closed off access to the bay, and as the story goes this area became a swamp with mosquito that could "carry you away". 

I don't know if the developer was required to install a pump to bring in water into the pond, to satisfy environmental issues, nevertheless a pipe from the bay to the pond was installed along with an outfall pipe. The pond was now non-tidal, but salt water. Then the unthinkable happened: someone poured concrete into the outfall pipe rendering it useless. We had a period of heavy rains causing the pond to overflow its banks causing erosion all around the pond, but most significantly on Bahia where water eroded the shoreline up to the asphalt path. Property owners worried about their foundations. 

To make a serious problem even worse the water in the pond degraded. 

There you have the history of what is now Walkers Pond. It has taken years, but today I am happy to tell you that water now flows into the pond successfully from a new pipe and pump. Water ran into the pond for three days and nights giving the pond a good salt-water drink and flushing. Late yesterday afternoon the plumber opened the valve to the outfall pipe and water ran out the pipe, successfully, into the bay. It may not be exactly as nature intended, but this will work with nature's cooperation. 

More sand for the Bahia shoreline will be delivered in a week or two. Goody Hill is our benefactor. Once that sand is here we still have to get it spread so we can plant the aquatic grass so the sand doesn't wash away over the winter. Those winter storms can be brutal. 

It will be done and it will be beautiful!