One of the things we really wanted to experience while at Qualicum Beach was low tide. John’s told me how interesting the sea shore can be at low tide and he was right.
To give it some perspective, the concrete “wall” in the photo above is the same one in the picture below. You can just see it to the right of my wine glass.
That water is way out there! I was quite surprised. Even though I’ve lived in British Columbia for almost 50 years, I’ve never really experienced coastal tides. I had no idea the tide would go out that far.
Looking back toward our motel (the yellow building) from the water line, it was interesting to see three distinct areas. There’s the sandy area at the front of the picture, pebbles in the center and larger stones towards the buildings.
The views, as always, were amazing. The sky was so incredibly blue, with no clouds in sight. Looking in the opposite direction, towards Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, we could see there was a forest fire burning but we didn’t experience any smokiness at all where we were. And, no, that’s not us in the picture. There were a lot of people walking along the beach. One gentleman even pointed me in the direction of some sand dollars, something I’d never seen “in the wild”.
After I found the three old sand dollars, I started examining the live ones. They’re amazing! Since then, I’ve learned that they’re a type of sea urchin and that they have an outer skin; they feel kind of strange, almost like velcro. I found a few that had been turned upside down; I turned them back right way up. I don’t know if it would kill them to be bottoms up but I didn’t want to unduly harm them.
These little crabs were everywhere! At first, I didn’t even see them but wondered why the sand looked like it was moving. When I looked closer, I realized there were thousands of these little crabs. As one couple passed me, he turned and said (in a Dutch accent), “Give them 10 years and they’ll be delicious!” I couldn’t agree more. I have to say, though, that once I saw them, I made every effort not to step on them. Incidentally, in the sand dollar photo, each of the dimples in the sand contains a little crab. I assumed they were trying to protect themselves from the blazing sun.
This next photo now graces my computer desktop. I love it!
Even though the weed was plastered to the wet sand and there was no movement at all, it shows the movement of the waves, the rippling of the weed as it would have done had it still been in the water. I just love it!
And for something fun, I will leave you with this video clip. All I’ll say about it is that, while I was walking, John noticed something happening behind me and stopped me. He told me to set the camera to video and to watch.
Strings 'n Things 