Residents and officials come together to aid Big Sur.

Just after 10am March 3, turkey vultures soar above the Big Sur River, searching for carrion. The sky is clear, and the sunny morning grows warmer.

About 30 minutes later, at the softball field at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, the distant thunder of a helicopter fills the air, and the vultures disappear. The helicopter approaches from the south, circles around the field, and makes a landing from the north.

About 30 people – State Parks and Monterey County employees, volunteer firefighters, journalists and politicians – watch the scene unfold: Vans and trucks roll onto the field, and thick-armed men quickly get to work unloading pallets of supplies to be delivered to the some 350 residents marooned on Big Sur’s “island,” who are cut off from road access to the outside world.

Gerry Malais, director of the county Office of Emergency Services, steps across the field to meet Scott Sinton, vice president of the helicopter company hired by the county, for $5,000, to deliver the supplies (paid for by residents, with the exception of diesel – which the county paid $5,700 for) to Post Ranch Inn. Minutes later, Malais says that despite getting off to a later start than anticipated, “Scott assured me there will be enough time for [all] 12 loads before dark.”

Malais says the supplies – procured through a grassroots effort led by Big Sur residents Butch and Patte Kronlund – should last about 150 people two to three weeks, and that those who didn’t order them are otherwise prepared.

County Supervisor Mary Adams, whose district includes Big Sur, smiles as she grabs a box of homework out of a van for kids stuck on the island.

The helicopter begins delivering supplies just before noon and finishes all 12 loads by 2pm. For most of the afternoon, the whir of that copter, as well another one carrying people, fills the valley.

Meanwhile, the collapsing Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on Highway 1, which is the northern border of the island, continues to sag, and Caltrans spokeswoman Susana Cruz says a crane is being shipped to the bridge in 11 pieces, where it will be assembled and used to wreck the bridge sometime next week. At Paul’s Slide, the southern edge of the island, Caltrans crews hope to have the road repaired enough by March 13 to allow for much-needed deliveries of propane.

Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Martha Karstens says work on a trail through state parks land is expected to begin March 9, which will provide locals a way to get on and off the island by foot.

Once the trail is done, Karstens says, “We can settle down and prepare for what our new normal is.”