Shell Beach

I missed this and will try to insert into chronological order, which will probably confuse one or two people who actually read these things as they come out. I am also going to keep the entry very short.

Shell Beach is on the northwest side of the tombolo that connects the main part of Montague Harbor Provincial Park (on Galiano Island) to the Gray Peninsula, which would be an island in the absence of the tombolo. There is a small salt marsh and lagoon, and a second, smaller tombolo, on the more sheltered southeastern side of the barrier beach, facing out into Montague Harbor proper.

AERIAL VIEW

The beach itself is rich, and white, in broken shell - thus it's name, I assume. On a summer afternoon it captures the sun and there were no shortage of people enjoying both the beach and the water. My photos actually come from both days of my visit (my base for my two-day exploration of Galiano was a walk-in campsite in the Park). I went for a paddle in the yellow boat on Monday afternoon, watched the sun set from the beach Monday evening, and came back and walked it on Tuesday afternoon, before heading for the Hummingbird Pub for dinner.

Dionisio Point

Dionisio Provincial Park lies at the northern tip of Galiano Island, across Porlier Pass from Valdez Island to the north. Technically, it's marine access only, but with some sleuthing, there are ways to get there without a boat. But don't tell anyone I told you.

There's a beautiful little tombolo connecting the rocky island (which I think is Dionisio Point proper) to the rest of Galiano. Arguably, one might call it a small cuspate foreland that's trying to become a tombolo, since the tip probably goes underwater at many high tides. The southern side of the spit is somewhat sheltered within a rocky bay, so wave exposure may be greater from the north. The northern beach is more fully developed and there were overwash features consistent with north to south wave action. At the same time the bar at the tip also showed signs of current flow from south to north. This would be an interesting spot to watch at a very high tide.

AERIAL VIEW

Interestingly, the northern beach is also much sandier than the southern one, which consists of a fairly uniform gravel lag. I suspect it takes pretty unusual conditions to move material around very much on the south side, whereas the northern beach looked to be much more active.

The sandstones out at the point displayed the neat tafoni weathering that's so characteristic of these Nanamimo Group rocks.

Besides the tombolo, there was a nice little pocket beach around the corner to the northwest. And in between, what was once a substantial Salish village (Quelus', perhaps linked with nearby modern Penalakut Tribe). Here's a link to an NPR story from a few years back: KUOW, 2011.

As is often the case, there is more about some of these Galiano sites on my companion blog:
hshipman: Galiano 2017

Matthews Beach

This beach at the southern end of Galiano is associated with Mathews Point Regional Park. It's also Shore Access #15, one of many on the island (Capital Regional District: Shore Access).

I've been checking out this beach from the ferry for twenty years as we pass through Active Pass on the way to and from the other islands, but this was my first visit (since it was also my first time on Galiano). The beach usually looks pretty empty, although occasionally I see a few folks who've made it down the steep trail from the road.

AERIAL VIEW

It's a pocket beach - at least it's contained by two rocky headlands with little opportunity for sediment to bypass the bedrock points in the deeper, fast-moving water offshore. But it defies some of the usual stereotypes of pocket beaches.

It's hard to characterize it as swash-aligned since wave action is probably messy and strongly impacted by boat wakes (mainly ferries, but lots of other traffic, too). There's not a lot of fetch across Active Pass's narrow channel and large waves are probably pretty limited. 

Sediment to the beach is provided by eroding bluffs of glacial sediment and possibly from a gully at the west end. The beach generally is sandier at the east end (sand and small gravel); much coarser (large gravel and cobble) at the west. I sort of imagine that any new additions of sediment make up for gradual loss of sediment offshore.

It's a great place to watch ferries - which are frequent.

Morning Beach

I'm playing catch up again. A long road trip intervened, so the next few posts date back to mid-August when we made our annual pilgrimage to Salt Spring Island. This year, I took two days on my own to explore nearby Galiano Island.

Morning Beach, not surprisingly, faces east and on a less hazy day one would probably look directly across the Strait of Georgia at Mount Baker. 

AERIAL VIEW

Like so many pocket beaches in the Gulf Islands, this one is contained by resistant sandstone headlands that reflect the regional strike of the folded rocks (Cretaceous Nanaimo Formation). Sandstone ribs, also on the same strike, break up the beach at the south end. The beach is pretty sandy, which I suppose is some combination of glacial cover and eroded bedrock.