Another great photo from Ken Ohrn. Here’s a party trick to impress your out of province visitors: can you tell which way the tide is going from this photo? Leave your answer in the comments.
Update: As of Noon there’s not been a correct answer to the party trick left in the comments. Which way is the tide going in the photo?
The view is looking west from English bay.
High tide occurs just before noon during the current snowy period.
There is no telltale band of exposed beach sand indicating a falling tide.
I’m guessing that the photo is taken around noon given the winter cloudscape.
I’m going to guess trick question, because it is high tide, not going up or down.
Thanks for the beautifully composed photo!
Author
Thank you for your comment! But there IS a way to look at exactly what the tide is doing…and a sailor can tell you. There’s your hint!
Well if I was a sailor, which I am not, I would call the situation ‘slack water’ which occurs on every change of tidal direction from high to low and from low to high. The photo is taken around noon time as evidenced by the slack water at high tide. The next slack water at low tide occurs at night time after sunset, so it is not the photograph under speculative comment.
Author
Thank you so much for working on the puzzle. If you look at the ships, they are at the end of their anchor rodes-the sterns are facing west. The one closest to Bowen Island is getting a “flush” out of the passage. The tide is falling. You can tell where the tide is from the position of the ships at anchor. At slack tide they actually lie “sideways” in English Bay, ensuring a panoramic view from every angle for ship crew.
I would guess tide is falling – from looking at the anchored freighters (bow to).
Author
Yes Maria! It is a falling tide as the ships are pulling against their anchors with sterns facing west. You can see on the ships to the right of the photograph that are also getting the ebbing tide flushing out of the passage between Bowen Island and Horseshoe Bay. Well done!