Is Vancouver a coastal city?

[Denscity]

"laughing icon"

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by Wentworth

Orcas frolicking along the South coast of Calgary, courtesy of Peak Aerials.

Congrats. You have won the internet today.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Lio,

Since it was your original assertion that started this thread, which you feel was taken out of context (though it was linked), I'll ask you a simple question:

Is Vancouver on the coast? Yes or no

I would say, definitely more Yes than No, to that exact question.

However if you really want to recapture the context the question should be "Are both Halifax and Vancouver on the coast?" and the answer would be "yes for Halifax obviously, and mostly yes for Vancouver".

My turn to ask you a question. Let's just flip longitudes, and I make the statement "Tofino and Charlottetown are both on the coast". Would someone coming up with the nitpick "Actually, Charlottetown isn't, Louisbourg is" spur you to create a new SSP thread about it? Yes/No

[dleung]

Gonna guess, from the logic-defying solidarity here among forumers from a certain province, that the assertion distorted by this thread was a retaliation to the suggestion that a certain city lacks a coastline - perceived as a slight, as everything seems to be these days.

[Denscity]

Im still not getting how Halifax is more coastal than Vancouver. I didn't go everywhere in Halifax but I walked along the boardwalk and ferried over to Dartmouth. Nowhere did I see open ocean or waves of any real size. Can you literally surf in suburban Halifax?

[SFUVancouver]

How is this even up for debate?

If the definition of "coastal" means being on an ocean and unsheltered by any landmass, then there are a whole lot of obviously coastal cities that just got disqualified.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by dleung

Gonna guess, from the logic-defying solidarity here among forumers from a certain province, that the assertion distorted by this thread was a retaliation to the suggestion that a certain city lacks a coastline - perceived as a slight, as everything seems to be these days.

Seriously? Not at all.

What made me decide to make this nitpicking assertion was that the statement reactivated the memory of the long pilgrimage my sister and I had to do (back when she lived in Vancouver, while I was visiting) in order to be able to surf in the Pacific. Including a ferry trip.

Contrast that to my uni friends who routinely went to surf in Nova Scotia (admittedly, likely not within Halifax's city limits, but the HRM is actually so large that it's not even impossible).

My gf's uncle in Santa Barbara had a co-worker who went to surf every single morning on his way to the office. I met that guy (he had a nice new -- back then -- 4x4 Ranger stepside for the surfboard) and actually envied him.

You can't live within Vancouver city limits and do like that guy.

And I loved Vancouver. It's not meant to be an attack on Vancouver to say that the city is not directly ON the ocean, it's just a fact.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by lio45

My gf's uncle in Santa Barbara had a co-worker who went to surf every single morning on his way to the office. I met that guy (he had a nice new -- back then -- 4x4 Ranger stepside for the surfboard) and actually envied him.

You can't live within Vancouver city limits and do like that guy.

So surf-able wave height is the true definition of being coastal? Shame about all those dark blue places being practically land-locked and bereft of the surf-on-the-way-to-work guys.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Im still not getting how Halifax is more coastal than Vancouver.

These two sat maps are at roughly at the same scale (which you can verify in the lower left corner).

Canada's southeastern corner (i.e. Atlantic Ocean coastline)






Canada's southwestern corner (i.e. Pacific Ocean coastline)

[Denscity]

Kinda helps. But Halifax is very protected by a great harbour so no open ocean waves. And the BC/southwestern corner pic is too far north to show Vancouver.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Kinda helps. But Halifax is very protected by a great harbour so no open ocean waves. And the BC/southwestern corner pic is too far north to show Vancouver.

The pic is actually too far west to show Vancouver.

Vancouver is nearly exactly at the middle of the picture in terms of latitude, but to the right of what's shown.

And as you no doubt know the bit of land in the bottom right corner is WA state.

[leftimage]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Kinda helps. But Halifax is very protected by a great harbour so no open ocean waves. And the BC/southwestern corner pic is too far north to show Vancouver.

To be honest now I am more curious to know which coastal cities (on earth) aren't sheltered from the ocean. Seeing how harbours & ships depend on one another, I would think there aren't many Metro areas in the world with full-on ocean exposure.

Miami is the first that comes to mind.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Im still not getting how Halifax is more coastal than Vancouver. I didn't go everywhere in Halifax but I walked along the boardwalk and ferried over to Dartmouth. Nowhere did I see open ocean or waves of any real size. Can you literally surf in suburban Halifax?

The main part of Halifax is indeed inland several KM from the open ocean. Downtown Halifax is about 7.5km from the opening of the harbour and there is a large island in the harbour so one has to go down to the shore of Point Pleasant Park about 3 km from downtown to look out into the open ocean. By comparison, the distance between the Second Narrows Bridge and Lion's Gate Bridge is just over 8km. The popular surfing areas like Lawrencetown are about a 30 min drive from the central areas but you can see big waves on the open ocean much closer in parts of Eastern Passage and Cole Harbour or Herring Cove.

As for the main thread question, I would consider Vancouver Island to be off the coast of mainland BC, so Vancouver would indeed be coastal. Some coastlines have sheltered areas like harbours, bays, inlets, estuarys, fjords, and offshore islands but that doesn't mean they aren't part of a coast.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by leftimage

To be honest now I am more curious to know which coastal cities (on earth) aren't sheltered from the ocean. Seeing how harbours & ships depend on one another, I would think there aren't many Metro areas in the world with full-on ocean exposure.

Miami is the first that comes to mind.

San Francisco, San Diego both have oceanfront coastline within city limits.

I was going to say Miami did not (Miami Beach, North Beach, etc. do) but I double-checked and there's actually one island that is oceanfront and part of the City of Miami -- though no one lives there.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by lio45

Contrast that to my uni friends who routinely went to surf in Nova Scotia (admittedly, likely not within Halifax's city limits, but the HRM is actually so large that it's not even impossible).

Lawrencetown beach is one of the more popular (maybe most popular) NS surfing spots. People go surfing there year-round. It's 15-20 km or so from downtown Halifax and inside the city limits. Lawrencetown itself is well within the rural commuter belt.

[Hot Rod]

oh, this is ridiculous. Vancouver is a coastal city, it sits on the Pacific Ocean in the Burrard Inlet and has a major port that does not need locks to reach the salt water.

Vancouver Island is not connected to the mainland of Canada, unlike the Olympic Peninsula in the USA is. I'd find the argument more applicable to Seattle who is miles away from the other side of the OP but both Vancouver and Seattle lie on salt water inlets so they're coastal.

Isn't LA coastal? There's an island or two out there as well. Guangzhou in China is a coastal city, is it not? Shanghai is coastal even though its city area resides on a river miles away from the coast. Isn't NYC coastal and DC even though both reside on fresh water that empties into the ocean. Isn't Houston a coastal city, even though it is inland 30 miles.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

has a major port that does not need locks to reach the salt water.

FYI, that exact definition would make Montreal "coastal", which I don't personally think it is.

Tidal variations would probably be a better metric.

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

Isn't LA coastal?

(...)

Isn't Houston a coastal city, even though it is inland 30 miles.

At first sight I'd have said "strictly speaking, not exactly" in both cases (with Santa Monica, Long Beach, Galveston, etc. being fully coastal) but I see that modern LA includes San Pedro and that Houston's city limits extend east to include the historic site of the battle of San Jacinto, from where it's indeed possible to navigate to the Gulf and vice versa -- a point driven home by the presence of the battleship Texas there as a memorial. (Note that Houston is still less coastal than LA by pretty much any possible metric.)

Also, while LA is totally a West Coast city, Houston/Galveston (or Corpus Christi, or Churchill MB...) are not "East Coast" cities nor are they directly on the Atlantic. IMO but I'm pretty sure that's the consensus out there.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by someone123

Lawrencetown beach is one of the more popular (maybe most popular) NS surfing spots. People go surfing there year-round. It's 15-20 km or so from downtown Halifax and inside the city limits. Lawrencetown itself is well within the rural commuter belt.

Thanks for the info. Interesting...

[niwell]

Technically you can surf on Lake Ontario… in Toronto even

http://torontoobserver.ca/2011/11/01...ret-surf-spot/

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Toronto-Breaks

[memememe76]

This summer I have done more of long runs in the Spanish Banks/Kits area (thanks to new bike lanes!). I see folks doing yoga on paddleboards. It's really neat.