Wreck Beach Nudist: An Endangered Species
There hasn’t been a story about this beach here since 2007. I checked. So the fact that this one is a bit old, but turned up on the Tyee news summary for last Friday might be worth noting too. Before you click on the link at work, note that the story is illustrated, and I have not, in an excess of care for your welfare, not put any of the (I think rather nice) pictures in this post.
The source is also, as it happens, new to me. But I do like the idea of “Citizen News”. And as a transport economist and local transit activist, I am a bit perturbed that the idea of a ferry from Wreck Beach to Squamish had been proposed at all – and this back in November of last year – and I did not know about it.
How dare we enjoy ourselves for almost free, just 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver? It seems to me this can no longer be tolerated by the University of British Columbia and its towers of mass destruction – their hopes for a ferry terminal that will one day expediently transport thousands of polluting tourists directly up to Squamish without having to go all the way around, through the city and across the bridge.
Now I am fairly sure that even if there are not (admitted) Wreck Beach users here there may be folk at UBC who know more about this and will comment. Enquiring minds need to know.
And yes, when I was younger and lived in Europe, beaches like this were usually on my holiday list. The topography of Wreck Beach, more than anything, has put me off. Up to now. For if there is anything that stimulates my interest in doing something it is when I learn of some officials who want to stop me. I read banned books. I go out of my way to see movies that have been prohibited. I support civil disobedience as a way of changing society – for it is the only thing that ever has. I just hope it gets warmer soon.
First you provide a non hyper-linked link to http://www.trams.ca/events.html and now you bury a link to a story (first mentioned in the first sentence) in the second paragraph? Not only that but the link has a double "http:" in it and therefore doesn’t work. Are you trying to make things difficult for your readers? :-) There’s also a double "not" in the first paragraph. I hope you don’t mind my criticism. I just hope you re-read your posts next time before posting. I enjoy your articles otherwise, and look forward to more!
How come I only see comments like that on Metroblogging? It’s one reasons I’ve started to post less, it seems that folks concentrate too much on the presentation of the content rather than the published information.
Now with regards to the post: A ferry to the beach would just be terrible. It’s the most gorgeous piece of coastline within 20 minutes of downtown Vancouver and is a true oasis – for those with or without clothing.
I have fixed the two links that were faulty: sorry about that.
The choice of the second paragraph for the link in this post was deliberate, as was the repeated "not". I did want to avoid getting irate comments from people who feel guilty about looking at ladies’ bottoms that are not covered by a tiny triangle of flimsy cloth, and worry that they ought not to be reading Metblogs at work.
I also found a couple more typos that are now fixed that you missed.
Have you thought about switching to decaf in the evenings?
I think a ferry from Wreck Beach couldn’t fly. There is a large area where tugs leave log booms, and I can’t imagine the water shipping lane being disrupted by a small passenger ferry. Translink would be nuts to foot that cost to run such a ferry. Truly how many people would take it? It could only be a passenger ferry not a car ferry, and aside from a few climbers heading to big chief who would take that ferry?
I took a look at the Wreck Beach Preservation Society web site, this is directly from their site:
PASSENGER FERRIES/ MARINA/BRIDGES
Proposed passenger ferries, marina or bridge between Richmond and Point Grey still remain of concern even though they are presently not on the proverbial plate. Somehow, similar proposals always seem to simmer below the surface.
(A) Destruction of habitat should Translink ever decide to run passenger ferries to UBC via anywhere along the Wreck Beach foreshore which stretches from BGC to Acadia (7.8 km).
(B) Destruction of habitat and water quality and undermining of cliff stability should the Port North Fraser or Department of Public Works ever decide to create a marina, super port or ferry terminus in the estuarine or Trail 6 area of Wreck Beach or elsewhere along the Wreck Beach foreshore.
PS I took some nice pictures (non-nudes) of the Beach and location you could have used in this post, they are in my Flickr. I am not one for being nude on the beach.
Thank you for the offer, Barbara, and I do like your pictures, but given the headline, it was either something obviously related to the title or nothing at all.
Translink did do several studies of possible ferries across the Inlet. None – as far as I recall – came into the North Arm. There have been other suggestions about the use of Iona as an alternate BC Ferry terminal, that have similarly gone nowhere.
Any ferry to Squamish would be outside the current TL service area and thus very low priority. There have been private sector musings about a fast ferry to and from downtown that would stop at Bowen Island, but they have also failed to appear.