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Week of June 24th, 2018

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 June 29 June 30
High 19 22 25 22 25 33 35
Low 13 7 2 14 16 15 20

Welcome to the start of insanely hot weather.

It’s great to see the beach come alive in the summer. I took lots of pictures and videos the past few days and it was hard to choose favorites. (it’s hard to get a good picture of a jet at distance from a smartphone 🙂 I expect Canada Day will be even bigger next weekend.

Seeing the Snowbirds perform was a treat. When we lived in Ottawa we used to see them all the time, but this is the first time I’ve seem them at Wasaga Beach. CFB Borden is close (as the snowbird flies). I suspect they departed from there, but I’m not sure.

Sunday, June 24th, 2018 – The Snowbird truck parked at beach one – officers and announcers for the airshow perched on top of the truck. They did an awesome job for the #cf18demo as well as the snowbirds show at 4:00 PM.

Below is a short video segment of the CF-18 participating in the airshow.

I met a nice family on the beach two days ago from Quebec. I offered to take a picture of the family together. He very gracious and appreciative. I realized after he might have been with the CFB Bagotville crew participating in the airshow.

As the CF-18 pilot wrapped up his part of the show, you can hear him below speaking to the audience via radio through the loudspeakers on the beach.

The biplane below kind of stole the show from my perspective. Flying upside down over the water at altitudes of 50 feet. Crazy!

Sunday, June 24th, 2018 – picture taken at the beach one boardwalk looking west. All of us camped out to watch the airshow. For my Toronto and Ottawa friends – yes – it was really this sparsely populated. LOL.
Sunday, June 24th, 2018 – I used my better camera to snap a picture of the Canadian Coast Guard vessel far offshore – presumably in case something went wrong during the airshow.
Sunday, June 24th, 2018 – Beach one packed with people watching the airshow, many from the Budweiser beer tent.
Tuesday, June 26th, 2018 – It’s amazing how the beach goes from being completely packed on a weekend to being dead on a Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 26th, 2018 – no signs of the airshow 48 hours later. Great cleanup job!
Tuesday, June 26th, 2018 – Looking toward Blue Mountain from the foot path between 13th street and Shore Lane.
Thursday, June 28th, 2018 – At the start of my walk on Thursday morning exiting the sand dunes near 18 street west of Bungalows on the Beach
Thursday, June 28th, 2018 – looking west from the half-way point on my walk. Collingwood is still shrouded in morning fog on the far shore but it has burned off on the beach.
Friday, June 29th, 2018 – The calm before the storm. Looking east down an empty beach before the long weekend.
Friday, June 29th, 2018 – The beer tent being setup prior to Canada Day weekend.

I’m trying to be careful posting pictures that will identify people personally, but today (Saturday June 30th) was absolutely the busiest day I’ve ever seen at the beach. I spoke to people who patrol the beach daily, and local business owners all confirmed that today was the busiest day any of them have seen. The picture below was taken ~ 2 kilometers from Beach One. People enjoying the beach as far as the eye can see. What an awesome day. I lasted an hour before getting too much Sun and had to get back to my rocking chair :-).

Saturday, June 30th, 2018 – Ontario Provincial Park Beach Patrol heading east back to beach one
Saturday, June 30th, 2018 – An unusually busy entrance to the beach from 18th street.

I stole this picture below from Terry on Facebook – a fellow local beach walker. His picture illustrates the situation on Saturday better than mine. Terry’s PIC was two beaches over to the of where I was at Beach 3.

Saturday, June 30th, 2018 – This picture taken by Terry Dubois. Even as far west as beach five there was not a quiet place at Wasaga Beach on the long weekend.
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Week of June 17th, 2018

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
June 17 June 18 June 19 June 20 June 21 June 22 June 23
High 33 29 18 22 18 23 19
Low 14 15 12 8 12 9 16

It’s hard not to be amazed by how the beach suddenly comes alive in the summer months. With the Wasaga Beach Heroes Festival running June 23rd and June 24th, and Canada Day the weekend after, the beach is suddenly packed with people (whenever the sun is out). A stark contrast from what the beach looks like the rest of the year.

The Heroes Festival (quoting from their website) is a weekend designed to honour our military, first responder and public safety agencies. A family-friendly weekend where Canadians can interact with the men and women who keep us safe each and every day. It’s a wonderful event.

Hat’s off to the organizers. Toward the end of this week and early next week I snapped many pictures and videos of the Heroes Festival. Suddenly Wasaga Beach went from having no traffic to being like the DVP at rush hour!

Sunday, June 17th, 2018 – Lots of activities down at Beach One today. An obstacle course for little kids just setup and ready to open.
Sunday, June 17th, 2018 – Today was the sand sculpture competition. I saw half a dozen amazing sculptures like this one with down at Beach One. This castle was my favorite for some reason.
Sunday, June 17th, 2018 – Two sailboats anchored off shore
Monday June 18th, 2018 – The sky looked super cool today with a cold front moving in. I took this picture right near 16th street looking west. You could feel the temperature dropping fast. There is a storm sewer run-off and you can see where rainwater has eroded the beach.
Tuesday, June 19th, 2018 – It was considerably cooler today. You needed a jacket with cold air coming in off the lake. This picture taken near 13th street at the park bridging 13th street with the east end of Shore Lane.
Wednesday, June 20th, 2018 – Another comfortable / cool day. Walking toward Beach one from near 18th street looking east. Not as cool as the picture below however!
January 04-2018 – Just for contrast, I wanted to share with people what this exact section of the beach looked like over five months ago back in January. It’s really cool to see the dramatic changes over the course of the year. The beach is noticeably different every day.
Wednesday, June 20th, 2018 – These are new! New buoys installed off beach one in anticipation of the upcoming Heroes Weekend event at Wasaga Beach I suspect. Presumably these are intended to keep boats offshore away from swimmers for the upcoming event and airshow planned for the weekend.
Thursday, June 21st, 2018 – I came across this lone paddle boarder while walking down the beach today.  I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this picture.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2018 – This weekend was Heroes weekend at Wasaga Beach. We’re close to CFB Borden, one of Canada’s larger military bases. The beach was full of exhibits from local firefighters, police and military personnel. In this exhibit locals got the chance to climb a fire ladder.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2018 – At the Hero’s festival, a fireman demonstrates cutting through a simulated roof.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2018 – I hope nobody in the area needed to call 911 over the weekend. As far as I could tell, almost every emergency vehicle in Simcoe County was at the beach on Saturday.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2018 – Beach one was packed, but because it was overcast as soon as I got west of Beach 2, the beach was once again deserted. The water near the shore colored yellow by huge amounts of Pollen. People with allergies would definitely be suffering this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

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Week of June 10th, 2018

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 14 June 14 June 16
High 24 20 25 28 20 20 24
Low 9 7 8 15 13 10 9

A beautiful week with warm summer days and cool nights for sleeping. I wish the whole summer could be like this!

Sunday, June 10th, 2018 – I’ve seen these ducks daily for two weeks now. They get braver every day and trusting of people. I hope their trust is well placed.
Sunday June 10th, 2018 – a pleasant Sunday morning walk down an empty boardwalk toward beach one. This pic taken looking east.
Monday, June 11th, 2018 – The path between 13th street and Shore Lane has an upgrade! Awesome new stone path that is easier to bike on – great to see!
Monday, June 11th, 2018 – stopped to say high to the locals again today. Michelle and I are learning a lot about the behavior of ducks. We have our own family of ducks living in our yard and swimming every morning in our pool.
Monday, June 11th, 2018 – looking east walking toward beach one. Not a soul in sight. I find it bizarre how the beach can be completed crowded on a rainy holiday weekend, yet desolated on a perfect day like today.
Tuesday, June 12th, 2018 – The seagulls get brave as the summer rolls on. I almost needed to push them out of the way now before they will take flight. A month ago I couldn’t get within 30 feet.
Tuesday, June 12th, 2018 – looking east from the near 13th street. The tractors cleaning the beach have created mounds that will be cleaned up (I hope).
Thursday, June 14th, 2018 – Looking north toward Georgian Bay on another spectacular day. This looks a lot like Carter’s Bay on Manitoulin Island.
Thursday, June 14th, 2018 – looking east across the beach. You can see the water in the great lakes is still high, Last year there were plants growing along this section of beach that is now underwater.
Friday, June 15th, 2018 – My friend (Mr. White) from last week is back. No sign of Mr. Black. Hope he’s OK.
Friday, June 15th, 2018 – You know summer has (almost) arrived. A beautiful property at the east end of Shore Lane with new chairs.