Looooowwww Tide

Last year we missed it, but this year I expressly noted when the lowest tides occur this season. We took our dog to Spanish Banks two years ago and she absolutely loved it! Leash free, a (seemingly) boundless expanse of compacted sand. What's not to love?

This is the recent photo in the Vancouver Courier that reminded me to check the tide charts.

I'll post photos in two batches because I still want to photoshop a couple. I just need to level out the horizon on a few action shots of Tannah. She moved so fast that I focused on her motion rather than the level horizon.

The freighters looked like they were grounded. I must admit I had the occasional eerie thought of them really being beached, recalling the Japanese tsunami. Good thing I had a frolicking Spaniel to divert me back to reality!

Father's Day Storm Cell

After an impressive introductory crack of thunder, we just witnessed a severe storm cell that lasted probably 20-25 minutes. It was, I think, the most intense prolonged hail event that I've ever witnessed in this Vancouver region. No visible accumulations of hail remained after the cell passed and the pellets were only pea-sized, but they surely came down "with intensity"! (That phrase always plays in my my mind with a thick Japanese accent from that scene in Lost in Translation.)

 

 

2014-06-16 update: Apparently that storm system wasn't finished with us. At about 1:30 a.m. I was jolted awake with what can only be described as a ferocious blast of thunder. It induced a panic that one might expect if a tree crashed through the roof without notice. With my adrenaline now pumping it took another hour or so to fall back asleep.

It would be interesting for me to have experienced an Asian monsoon rain event to enable me to fairly compare the intensity (there's that word again) of rainfall that accompanied the vicious thunder clap. Allowing for the fact that I've never traveled to Asia, in my humble opinion last night's rain certainly qualified as torrential.

Father's Day Beach Attendance in Vancouver

Vancouver residents flocked to the beach (well OK, it was Lost Lagoon) this drizzly Father's Day weekend.

 

Fortunately a life guard was on duty.

By contrast, this was English Bay beach on Saturday near noon. This is a weekend with an extra low tide predicted. The most beach was expected to be exposed by 1:29 p.m.