In With the Tide, Out with the Old

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As the day ends we watch the tide slowly wash away the products of the day - sand castles melting away under the persistent rising water, removing away all residue and reminders of the days activities. It's the perfect metaphor. Awakening to a new day, a new beach and a new start. Rathrevor Beach Provincial Park is incredible; I would have never imagined that such an endless expanse of sandy beach existed anywhere this far north along the west coast. The shallow shelf allow what feels like miles of exposed shoreline to appear every day as the water recedes.

It was an entirely unplanned stop. The original 'plan' was to leave Point-no-Point and zig-zag a path across the island out to Tofino, but Andras spotted a one-page article on Rathrevor in one of the magazines at the cabin and wanted to check it out. After driving for almost the entire day (and not making near enough progress towards Tofino anyhow) we rolled into Parksville as the sun was setting only to discover there were no campsites remaining. Fortunately the park ranger directed us to another camping spot inland a ways (where we snagged the last open spot!) and arriving back early the next morning we were rewarded with a big grassy walk-in site cheaper than the regular spots and closer to the beach. Success!

It wasn't long before our ears picked-up the distinctive call of bald-eagles. Capturing a good quality photo of an eagle is something that's been on my list for a while, and Andras aka "Eagle Eyes" can spot wildlife better than anyone I know. So together we went exploring just as the sun was rising and before too many people were up and about. Not only one, but two eagles had settled into the trees above the campsite and would periodically fly out over the water in search of food, and then sail back into the tree-tops. The tangle of brush below the trees made it a bit difficult to get an unobstructed shot, but reviewing the film - I am pretty pleased with what we came away with given the lack of advanced photography equipment.

After that we hit the beach for some summertime fun. Now, I might have mentioned this before, but as I was going through our older blogs this summer arranging them into photobook form, I realized that while we take lots of photos of things and places, there is a paltry amount of photos of us. And even fewer of us "having fun." And I really wanted to rectify this on the trip, having been inspired by the numerous Travelblog photos. All part of "performing the tourist" properly, yes? Very good. And I've got to say this is all much harder than it looks.

First up, sand writing. What with all the children and families out playing in the sand, we had to make sure to get up nice and early both to catch the shadows of the light so that it would be legible, but also to ensure a nice un-marked swath of sand-canvas to work with. I wrote a gigantic "Vancouver Island 2010" with my foot, taking great pains to not mar the rest of the sand area with extraneous markings, then only to realize I was somewhat 'stuck' in the words and couldn't quite jump far enough away to be out of the shot. Ah well. Now to get us in the frame. Only we have no tripod, and I wrote it WAY too large. We tried a dozen or so angles trying to get both our smiling, happy faces and the writing clearly displayed, and the photos gradual devolve from "Stephanie and Andras having fun!" to "Let's try this again!" to "Okay one more time" to "Seriously, Stephanie, I'm not taking another photo in front of this, one of those we already have is fine." Like I said, harder than it looks.

So after that we debacle we headed off to the warm, shallow waters off the Strait of Georgia. Surrounded by a sea of turquoise, if I didn't know better, I would have never guessed we were in Canada - until, that is, I'd turn around to see the snow-capped peaks of the Vancouver Island Range rising up in the background nestled amongst evergreen forests. The best of both worlds - warm beach and the familiarity of the Pacific Northwest. It was so pleasant just to walk around in the water, with the gentle waves lapping at our thighs. You only had to be careful to watch your step in places as thousands of tiny crabs skittered around in areas of kelp and broken shells.

At one point Andras returned to the shoreline while I wandered about taking photos of this and that. Upon his returned, I noticed he started to jog toward me, so I started running towards him. Arms wide, eyes bright, smiling, ready for contact, I was certain we were recreating those slow runs towards each other that culminate in him grabbing me by the waist and spinning me around in a long awaited embrace ... only to see him veer off at the very last minute into a flock of seagulls. Well that stopped me in my tracks. Although I did get a big hug after explaining that while I thought I was about to be on the receiving end of a sappy romantic gesture, I was really just in the way while he chased some birds. Goodness.

That slight disappointment, however, opened the doorway for me to insist he make it up to me with round-two of "let's take some fun vacation photos!" This time - jumping shots. Earlier we had brought out our camp-chairs onto the sand so we were a bit more prepared and could set to the timer on the camera. I focus, I click, I see the light flashing. One, two, three - jump! Or at least that's what I did. Andras timed it so that he could pull down his shorts and moon the camera at the precise moment I hit the air. Nice. Also, I learned I make these awful strained faced while I'm jumping. So... all-in-all, that was also a bit of a failure. Either we're not cut out for this sort of thing, or we just need more practice. Although they are incredibly amusing in their own way, to say the least.

The few days we spent here were a perfect way to wind down our time in Vancouver Island. Staring out, watching the sun set, while deer graze on the wild seabean and eagles call overhead. It was magical and relaxing. So peaceful. I'm not sure when the next time is that we'll get to vacation like this, but at least we'll have dozens of ridiculous photos to remind us of what was.

PS: We have a video of the eagle soaring ahead - not sure whose child is talking through the majority of it - it's a pretty popular beach, so between kids and wind, I never could record their call. Ah well.

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Photos

Rathrevor Beach
Walking from the campsite to the shore

Bald Eagle
Out of dozens of photos, one is bound to be good, right? And here we have it!

Seabeans in the Tide
At Twilight at Rathrevor

Andras and Sailboat
Looking for shells and seaglass

Vancouver Island 2010
Attempt number.... 6? 7? Either way, it was by far the best one.

Beaufort Mountain Range
As seen from the Rathrevor shallows

Day
With the tide out the waters receded.

Night
As the tide comes in and swallows up the beach. Taken the the same place as 'Day.' Amazing, right?

Shallow Water
These shallow waters enable for miles of beach when the tides recede

Eagle in Flight
Soaring over Rathrevor Beach

One...Two...
Based upon the look on my face, if I had to guess what I'm about to do, "Jump" would not be high on the list.

Three! The Obligatory Jump Shot
Thought this would be fun to try, but you just can't trust Andras with a shutter delay.

More Sand Writing
Stephanie and Andras - Vancouver Island - Canada 2010

Seabean at Twilight
Over the Straight of Georgia

Where Am I?
With these turquoise waters, you'd never believe I was in Canada, would you?

Self-Portrait
We just settled on this one, after the jumping fiasco