“When we were kids, we used to play hide-and-seek there, build our little houses there,” Mr. Kotkin reminisced. “These ships were our whole world.”

People bring their old machinery to join these ships on the shore. But it’s a junkyard with a broader purpose: The rusting clutter’s last mission is to serve as an improvised breakwater, helping shield houses on Shoyna’s shore from crashing waves.

There are some signs that Shoyna’s ecosystem may be recuperating. Grass started reappearing in Shoyna in the last five years. Fishermen, too, tell tales of seaweed tangling in their nets where there was none before.

But for now, the sand continues to come.

The wind carries the sand from the shore to a lighthouse on the beach, still the village’s most visible landmark. From there, the wind picks up the sand from the dunes lining the lighthouse’s foundation and carries it further toward the village. Grains of sand rattle against the windows and whip the faces of passers-by.

Some of this sand will eventually end up on the porch of Ms. Sakharova, the airport greeter. She grabs a shovel every morning and gets to digging her house out little by little.

“My kids and grandchildren are asking me to move to the city, but I don’t want to,” she said. “Shoyna is my home. It’s nice and calm out here.”