Apologies to Earnest Hemingway for borrowing the title of the first short story in his collection "In Our Time", but it seemed appropriate.
We've had some serious weather at the end of October and the succession of Pacific storms are forecast to continue into mid-November at least. On the other hand, no one out here really expects any thing different in the late fall-early winter period.
The storm of the decade and the storm of the century is becoming over used, but this year, the forecast of the "deepest depression ever in the history of records" became reality. The winds were equivalent to a category 3 hurricane.
It developed two weekends ago, and a weather buoy off Tofino recorded a pressure of 942.6mb on the Sunday during the second of two storms that weekend. The previous record was 943mb during a post tropical hurricane in 1977. The winds were the equivalent to a category 3 hurricane. We were fortunate the depression was further out in the pacific than predicted, and on a north trajectory towards Alaska otherwise it would have blown over our island with serious consequences.
Ferries were cancelled from Saturday night until mid-Monday. Keep in mind the ferries are our highway to the rest of BC and Canada. People returning to work, to home, going to medical appointments on the mainland were all affected. Smart travellers watch the weather and make different plans. Those not so smart drive to the ferry terminal, hoping, and then return the next day.
Current meteorological modelling is predicting another deep low for next week. We're keeping a watch on that. And I'll have my camera charged up.
So, back to Saturday, in between the two fronts, I went to the French Creek Marina to find interesting photos to capture. Our Marina is a traditional gathering place for windsurfers. Out of all the beaches in the vicinity, apparently ours is the best for the swell, and the strength and position of the winds.
The Salish Sea was certainly blustery, and the colours on the sails contrasted well with the grey waters and skies.
The Salish sea was a study in all the known shades on the grey scale
All the fishing vessels had docked in the harbour for safety. In the years we've been here, the Marina has gradually extended the breakwater to almost encircle the moorings, just to protect the boats and equipment for storms like this. The water on the harbour side was calm and the friendly local harbour seal was fishing for supper, with seagulls circulating above for any leftovers.
The big sea lions are happy to be on the ocean side of the breakwater, and I had no interest in walking along to take their photos. Its made up of piles of huge jagged granite rocks, designed to stop people strolling on it.
You can see in the photo below, the front trunk on the beach is waterlogged, so that gives you an impression of how high the seas were at the height of the storm, to push it up that far, up to the historic tide line.
Not sure what the red flag means but it added colour to the driftwood.
And then that same day, when I returned home, a break in the clouds...
Meanwhile, back in major news, during the height of the Friday storm, off the coast of Victoria, a container ship anchored and sheltering out the winds, lost some of its load in the high seas.
As if that wasn't enough of a problem, the next day, chemicals being shipped in some containers on board caught fire due to the action of water and chemicals. Special chemical fire crews could not board to attack it until Monday after the storm.
The ship was still seaworthy and controlled through out the weekend but the majority of crew were evacuated. Local companies stepped up and took them shopping for clothes because they just had their rain gear and lifejackets on them.
The containers that slipped into the sea, 107 of them, are mostly still out there, some are sinking but some have some floated over 600kms to the north island. This is presenting a major cleanup problem, with no roads on the west side of the island, the only way to move debris that's washing up, is by helicopter. This project will go on for months. The first containers to break open had refrigerators, so they are being lifted out one by one. We hope the shipping company paid up its insurance...
Moving on, what a difference a week makes.
This past weekend, Halloween, was clear and blue.
On the Friday, we walked along Rathrevor Beach, the sun was good medicine after the grey week.
Fair weather windsurfers...
Still a large swell on the water
On Halloween Sunday afternoon Lynda and I walked along Parksville beach
The snow capped mountains in the distance are on the other side of the Salish Sea on the mainland. in Garibaldi Provincial Park, and Whistler.
Clear skies at night bring our first light frosts.
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