English Bay

Name: English Bay
Address: Vancouver, Vancouver, CA

Beaches ·Vancouver

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English Bay is part of the Strait of Georgia west of Vancouver, BC. Its beach beside the West End is downtown’s most popular beach.

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Xicotencatl · CC BY-SA 4.0 · edited

Swim, sunbathe or watch the sunset at English Bay Beach.
Watch the Celebration of Light, the world’s largest offshore fireworks display, held over two weeks each summer, usually from late July into early August.
Walk, run, cycle or roller-blade on the Seawall, which loops around the bay from Stanley Park, around False Creek and Point Grey.
Watch large cargo ships anchored in the bay while they wait to reach Vancouver’s harbour docks.
See the beach’s inuksuk, which has stood here since Expo 86.

Summer brings the Vancouver Pride Parade and Festival to the beach.
The beach hosts Vancouver’s annual Polar Bear Swim each winter, when hundreds of swimmers plunge into the bay’s cold water.

The Squamish continue to claim the bay as part of their traditional territory, and its legal status remains unresolved.

June 1792English and Spanish expeditions met; the names English Bay and Spanish Banks commemorate that meeting.
Joe FortesVancouver’s first official lifeguard patrolled the beach from a shore cabin and taught hundreds of early residents to swim.
2015A cargo-ship oil spill on April 8 reached nearby beaches. Most beaches reopened after a ten-day closure following testing.

BikeOn the Seawall segment from east of Lions Gate Bridge to Third Beach, cyclists and roller-bladers travel counter-clockwise.

Where

Vancouver

Which other downtown beaches face English Bay?

Sunset Beach, Second Beach and Third Beach face the bay.

How does English Bay connect to Vancouver’s other waterways?

It continues northeast into Burrard Inlet and southeast into False Creek, a narrow inlet at its eastern end.

What beaches lie on the North Shore of English Bay?

Ambleside Beach and smaller coves lie on the North Shore.

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