Sunday, June 28th, 2020 – The weekend before Canada Day, the beach was surprisingly quiet. Most days, I have the beach all to myself. This picture taken looking west from a deserted part of the beach east of Beach one.Monday, June 29th, 2020 – I don’t normally take pictures here, but this is the beach entrance at 15th street north. Looking west across the Nottawasaga Bay.Monday, June 29th, 2020 – From 15th street I walked east along beach front properties west of 13th street. The beach has been cleaned up here, but it remains shockingly narrow compared to prior years. Tuesday, June 30th, 2020 – Tuesday evening, Michelle and I decided to walk down to Beach 6 from the YMCA RecPlex. Looking toward the Blue Mountains from a different part of the beach around 7:30 PM.Tuesday, June 30th, 2020 – Michelle and I took Maize with us – she loved walking down the beach.Wednesday, July 1st, 2020 – Everyone made a big fuss over how busy Canada Day was at Wasaga Beach, but I took this picture looking east towards beach one at 11:30 AM. It got more crowded toward the main beach before I turned around, but it was not that bad in my opinion. How crowded the beach looks in any picture has a lot to do with camera angles. This picture taken with “no zoom”.Wednesday, July 1st, 2020 – Enjoying private Canada Day fireworks back at our place swimming in the pool late Wednesday evening.Thursday, July 2nd, 2020 – Despite how this picture looks, July 2nd was actually a lot less crowded than July 1st. I took this picture with a telephoto lense. I zoomed in across the main beach area looking west in this picture as mom and I decided to cross the main section of the beach – the most direct path back to your vehicles.
Wouldn’t you know it, but midway down beach one I spotted a CTV cameraman doing the same taking the same shot but looking east – looking down the most crowded part of the beach. I said to Mom, “let’s hurry or we may end up on the evening news”.
I respect the town of Wasaga Beach for looking after the interest of residents, but I was pretty annoyed by this coverage. The beach was open July 2nd. The province had just announced “free access” to provincial parks for the holiday. https://globalnews.ca/video/7125421/ontario-premier-doug-ford-announces-free-day-use-to-all-provincial-parks-on-canada-day/.
People were not nearly as close as the CTV segment made them appear.
Thursday, July 2nd, 2020 – It’s hard not to walk down the beach without crossing beach one. This picture taken looking west, five minutes before getting caught on camera by CTV News.Thursday, July 2nd, 2020 – looking west down Wasaga Beach just after getting tagged by CTV News. This is what the beach really looked like if you didn’t work to find the most crowded shot possible. There was plenty of room to walk down the beach and stay away from people. I was there, and in my opinion the majority of people were completely responsible.Friday, July 3rd, 2020 – Friday was a little less busy still on the beach. Two jet-skiers off in the distance.Friday, July 3rd, 2020 – The OPP were much more visible today. Personally I don’t like it. If the town and the province want the beach closed, they should simply close it. We would all respect this and stay away in light of the COVID-19 emergency. This business of opening the beach, promoting visitors, and then deploying (out of town) police to run over sunbather’s beach blankets and make visitors nervous is not my idea of a fun day at the beach. It’s also a terrible look for both the town of Wasaga Beach and the OPP.Saturday, July 4th, 2020 – This sign went up after July 2nd when Wasaga Beach cracked down on visitors. I feel bad for tourists unfamiliar with Wasaga Beach and different beach areas attempting to decipher what this sign means.
Perfect summer weather as we approach the Canada Day long weekend.
Sunday, June 21st, 2020 – People enjoying a shrunken beach near the western boardwalk. Today reached a high of 31C. (88F for my American friends)Sunday, June 21st, 2020 – The swimming buoys are back in place to keep boats outside of the swimming area along the waterfront. Fun fact: there are no boat launches across the entire 14 km waterfront of Wasaga Beach. The boat launches are all on the Nottawasaga River. Boaters need to navigate down-river to get into Georgian Bay.Monday, June 22nd, 2020 – A hot and still Monday – looking across the Bay towards Collingwood.Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 – Another still day. Taken near 13th street easy of Shore Lane. Where you see the beach this year there were grass covered dunes last summer.Wednesday, June 24th, 2020 – On Wednesday there were strong winds from the west. This created a mini storm-surge raising levels on the Nottawasaga River across the roadway near the river-side boat launch. The cement tracks used to launch large boats are lost below the high water,Wednesday, June 24th, 2020 – Waves are reaching all the way to the western boardwalk with high winds.Thursday, June 25th, 2020 – The high winds on Wednesday, brought in an enormous amount of silt (dark color along the shore) the day after – I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe this is organic matter leached from the shore during previous storms. This silt is sloshing around the bay and whether it comes on shore depends on weather patters.Friday, June 26th, 2020 – Looking west from near Beach one across the western boardwalk.
Things seem to be getting back to “almost normal” – by Saturday June 20th, the beach was packed. Part of the reason is that the beach appears busy however is that there is far less beach with the record high water.
Sunday, June 14, 2020 – The town did a great job building a retaining wall. With record high waters on Georgian Bay it was necessary to turn what used to be Beach Drive into park of the beach. The retaining wall always protects the businesses along the beach from water damage.Monday, June 15th, 2020 = Looking across what used to be Beach Drive.Monday, June 15th, 2020 – Look west from the start of the wester boardwalk near beach one around the noon hour on Monday.Tuesday, June 16th, 2020 – Although the beach is open, it’s still shocking how deserted things are on weekdays.Wednesday, June 17, 2020 – For a change of pace I decided to walk down to beach six on Wednesday evening. This is where the locals tend to hang out. This picture shows an inlet with stagnant water.Thursday, June 18th, 2020 – You don’t see this every day. A tightrope walker practicing his craft in the park area south of beach 2. I watched him use a come-along to create sufficient tension on the rope that he could walk across it.Friday, June 19th, 2020 – Taken looking to the east at Beach one. People showing up early for what is likely to be a busy weekend.
