Canada Day at Jericho Beach

Wednesday was Canada Day! I spent the afternoon in Vancouver and decided to leave the laundry for the weekend, Saturday likely. Now when I got to town I didn't realize that the wind was as strong as it was. The above photos is a view of Vancouver's West End with Sunset Beach in the foreground. The photo was taken from the west side of the Burrard Bridge. You'll see in later photos I took that day just how strong the wind was.

From Burrard Street I walked to Kitsilano. This took me past Kitsilano Beach as the sign above indicates. The lawns are dried up in a lot of places due to the lack of rain. The little bit of rain we had recently was needed but didn't do enough to help the situation. The beach was crowded as you can easily see. This is normal on a hot day. The beach was also sheltered from the strong winds, an added plus!

Along Point Grey Road I saw these lavenders in full bloom in front of one of the upscale homes along the street. And below, the photos shows the typical style of the older homes in this area.

Then I arrived at Jericho Beach where you really could feel the full force of the strong wind. I spent some time near the Jericho Sailing School taking photos of the windsurfers doing their thing on the water, wind, waves and all. I watched guys have their sails knocked over and have to get up again, all while taking these shots with grit in my teeth and sand in my hair and trying to keep the camera steady, which was a challenge! So where can you go windsurfing or sailing and have the mountains as a beautiful backdrop?

I caught a seagull soaring above the pier by the sailing school while people below at the end of the pier were fishing for crabs (dungeness) and other things of the sea! The guy that caught these crabs (below) measured them and tossed them back since they were undersized. Most went willingly but one crab hung on with one of its claws. Once the claw was freed it was tossed as well. The photo below the one of the crabs in a trap is of two little ling cod that were caught by a fisherman. His partner was laughing and presumably once he got over his imbaressment, he tossed them back too.

The above photo looks toward the sailing school and towntown Vancouver. Note the sand blowing about! Despite the strong wind, it was an excellent time to fly a kite!!!

Above, the photo looks westward with Locarno Beach in the foreground and Point Grey Beach in the far distance. And if you haven't had enough of it, here is another phot of a windsurfer doing his thing with the mountains as a backdrop. Then we end this post with another pic of a seagull just one of a set of five taken on some rocks between Jericho Beach and the sailing school. I hope you had a great day as well!!! More to come! - V.