Unspecified/General

English Bay, on the western edge of downtown Vancouver, is the city's best-known beach, a broad crescent of sand at the foot of the West End where the towers of the city give way to the open water and the mountains of the North Shore rise across the inlet. Known affectionately to locals as First Beach, it sits at the southern end of the seawall that runs around Stanley Park and has long been the heart of summer life in the city, drawing crowds to swim, sunbathe, picnic and stroll, and famous above all for its sunsets, when the sky over the water glows and onlookers gather along the shore to watch the light fade behind the freighters anchored offshore. The beach has a colourful history, associated for decades with Joe Fortes, a much-loved lifeguard and swimming teacher of Caribbean origin who saved many lives and is commemorated by a memorial nearby, and it remains a place of community gatherings, from the swimmers of the annual New Year polar bear plunge to the great crowds that once came for a celebrated summer fireworks competition. Today the bay is lined with a promenade, grassy areas dotted with public art including a row of oversized laughing bronze figures, restaurants and cafes, and it serves as a gateway to the parks and neighbourhoods around it. With its easy access from the dense residential West End, its sweeping views and its relaxed seaside atmosphere, English Bay is a focal point of outdoor life in the city throughout the year. The position of English Bay, where the dense towers of the West End meet the open sea, gives it a character distinct from the wilder beaches further out, for it is an urban beach woven into the daily rhythm of the neighbourhood and easily reached on foot by tens of thousands of residents. Through summer evenings the sand and grassy banks fill with people, and the promenade is busy with walkers and cyclists following the seawall that links the bay to Stanley Park. The bay has hosted great public spectacles, including for many years an international fireworks competition, and in winter the hardy gather for the famous New Year swim. Sculptures dot the foreshore, the most photographed being a line of giant cast figures caught in mid-laugh, and with its sunsets, swimming and constant flow of city life it remains the social heart of the city's relationship with the sea.

Type: Beach

Address: Vancouver, Canada