English Bay Beach
Sandy urban beach on a sheltered bay, famed for sunsets, a historic bathhouse and a beloved early lifeguard.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to English Bay Beach in Vancouver follows Joe Fortes, who swam out into these waters on a June night in 1886 to rescue two strangers during a fire that swept through the young city. Born in Trinidad in 1863, he sailed around Cape Horn and settled on this sand, teaching the city's children to swim for free through the 1890s before Vancouver made him its first paid lifeguard around 1897. Picture him at dawn, a stocky man wading into the surf, blowing a whistle at reckless swimmers.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Kitsilano Beach
Sandy waterfront park with mountain and skyline views, near a tidal saltwater pool fed by the bay.
Second Beach
Sandy oceanfront cove in a forested park, with a heated saltwater pool that traces back to a nineteen thirty-two tidal design.
Brockton Point Lighthouse
Arched white tower with a red stripe on a rocky shoreline point, built to guide ships around a sharp harbor turn.
Sunset Beach
Grassy waterfront park on English Bay with a seawall path leading toward an art deco bridge.
Spanish Banks Beach
Sandy tidal beach where rival empires' explorers once traded charts instead of cannon fire.
Jericho Beach
Former military seaplane base turned sandy waterfront park with mountain and skyline views.