Launching Gwragedd Annwn at the Hollyburn Sailing Club.

 

Rowing towards Stanley Park.

 

Outrigger Canoes & safety boat practice along the shore.

 

Fireboat #1 races into Burrard Inlet.

 

Sentinal Hill in West Vancouver is in the background.  Sentinal Hill is a small remnant of an andestite stll.  It was formed during a period of Cascade volcanism that took place between 31 and 34 million years ago.  The intrusion “Cooked” the sandstone making it harder and more resistant to Glaciation.  Between the “Cooked” sandstone and the basaltic sill, the glaciers did not erode the hill flat.

 

 

A boquet of yellow carnations drifts out with the tide.  

 

Probably a story behind these.

 

 

The Tymac crew boat rushes under the bridge.

 

 

The tide is pretty low and you can see the boulder field lying on top of the Sandstone underlying much of Stanley Park.  

 

 

The boulders are the remains of glacial till that laid atop the Sandstone.  Wave action eroded the sandstone out from underneath the glacial till, leaving the more erosion resistant boulders behind.  

 

 

There are some very large iron eyebolts placed into the sandstone.

 

 

 

When my boys were younger, I used to tell them that tugs tied their towropes to them to tow Stanley Park into place, opening a small inlet wider to form Coal Harbour and widening First Narrows to let ships in.  That is why Lions Gate Bridge was built, because you could no longer just drive across Burrard Inlet at that spot.  

 

 

Siwash Rock is the remains of a volcanic “dyke”  or  “dike”.  The volcanic intrusion “Baked” or “Cooked” the sandstone, making it more resistant to erosion.  

 

 

 

 Hard basalt at Siwash Rock has resisted erosion better than adjacent sandstone.

 

 

The “Cooked” or “Baked” sandstone aspect is more visible on the seaward side.

 

 

 

 

The tide is too low to row around Siwash Rock today.

 

 

A good year for mussels.

 

 

As usual, English Bay has a lot of Freighters moored.  

 

 

Usually a dozen or so south of the shipping channel and two or three on the West Vancovuer Side.  I think that there are 18 designated anchorages in English Bay.  Looks like one of them is going to enter Burrard Inlet.

 

 

The Georgios P is going into the inner harbour.  I hear her ETA at First Narrows listening to Vancouver Harbour Radio, channel 12.

 

 

As she closes in, I can see her bow wave.  She will be at the Bridge in less that 15 minutes.

 

 

It takes me about 20 minutes to row across the shipping channel.

 

 

She is washing off her anchor as she steams in.

 

 

I am waiting on the North side of the shipping channel for her to pass.

 

 

Georgios P is a bulk carrier flying the Greek flag, her home port is in Athens.

  

 

She was built in 2010.  

 

 

She is 190 meters long and 33 meters wide.  

 

 

She passes the Capilano River Channel marker on her way into Burrard Inlet.

 

Georgios P passes by.  A short (20 minute) row later and I am back at Hollyburn Sailing Club.  

 

 

Mike.