Notes on the Geography of Canada (B.C.): Victoria's Waterfront 2The peregrination continues. Make default image size smaller ![]() Whale-back rock, just west of the Oak Bay Golf Club. ![]() Oak Bay has blocked off more of its waterfront than Victoria; much is held in grand estates. ![]() Commercial developments along the waterfront are sparse: here, a beach hotel--subsequently demolished and replaced by something bigger. ![]() More common are apartments, even a few high-rise ones, like the one here. In the foreground, Willows Beach, crowded on summer days but otherwise very quiet. ![]() Apartments began creeping into Oak Bay sometime around World War II. ![]() Through the 1960s, pedestrian apartment blocks replaced houses. ![]() Pack 'em in. Stack 'em up. ![]() Lest anyone think that such things were done only in Oak Bay, we backtrack to Beacon Hill Park, just west of which this baby stands. ![]() Back to the Oak Bay coast: the view is east, toward Mt. Baker in the Cascades. The dawn was bright. ![]() Occasionally, a homeowner decides to declare war on historic styles. Or perhaps the owner was suffering from light deprivation, common enough in the long, dark winters. ![]() Gordon Head still had bits of open headland and beach in 2000. The headland is a house now. ![]() The beach and the headland beyond was set aside as a park once the land behind it was carved into tiny lots. ![]() A summer morning: what could it be? ![]() Perhaps you can make out the spray; it was certainly audible as the whale rose and sank, minute by minute. ![]() A little sharper. ![]() Looking back from the same beach toward the new housing development, an edge of which can be seen. ![]() A closer view of what had been a raw headland, occupied only by cormorants and eagles. ![]() Farther back, homes cluster on what had been the property attached to a large house from the 1930s. It was removed. |
* Argentina * Australia * Austria * Bangladesh * Belgium * Botswana * Brazil * Burma / Myanmar * Cambodia (Angkor) * Canada (B.C.) * China * The Czech Republic * Egypt * Fiji * France * Germany * Ghana * Greece * Guyana * Hungary * India: Themes * Northern India * Peninsular India * Indonesia * Israel * Italy * Japan * Jerusalem * Jordan * Kenya * Laos * Kosovo * Malawi * Malaysia * Mauritius * Mexico * Micronesia (Pohnpei) * Morocco * Mozambique * Namibia * The Netherlands * New Zealand * Nigeria * Norway * Oman * Pakistan * Peru * The Philippines * Poland * Portugal * Romania (Transylvania) * Senegal * Singapore * South Africa * South Korea * Spain * Sri Lanka * Sudan * Syria (Aleppo) * Tanzania * Thailand * Trinidad * Turkey (Istanbul) * Uganda * The U.A.E. (Dubai) * The United Kingdom * The Eastern United States * The Western United States * Oklahoma * Uruguay * Uzbekistan * Vietnam * The West Bank * Yemen * Zambia * Zimbabwe *