I was out on a boat chasing whales....when this totally distracted me....I love lighthouses! The coast of Main has great lighthouses... this one a great West Coast Lighthouse ..
Race Rocks Light is one of two lighthouses that were built on the west coast of Canada, financed by the British Government and illuminated in 1860. It is the only lighthouse on that coast built of rock, (granite) purportedly quarried in Scotland, and topped with sandstone quarried on Gabriola Island. The Islands of Race Rocks are located just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, about 16 km southwest of Victoria, British Columbia.
The lighthouse was built between 1859–1860 by the crew of HMS Topaze and outside labourers under a contract awarded to John Morris by the British Government. It was illuminated on 26 December 1860, six weeks after the smaller Fisgard Island lighthouse built at the entrance to Esquimalt Harbour near Victoria. In 2010, both lighthouses celebrated their sesquicentennial.
It has a 24.4 m cylindrical tower with black and white bands, and flashes a white light every 10 seconds. Its foghorn sounds three blasts at one minute intervals. On Christmas Day 1865 a group of five visiting the lightkeeper capsized their boat in a tide rip while attempting to land and all were drowned.
The lighthouse has been automated since 1997 at which time Lester B. Pearson College took over the management of the station and the surrounding Race Rocks Marine Protected Area. Restoration of the interior and exterior of the historic light tower was carried out in 2009.
What makes this scene even greater...the view looking South into Washington State...Olympic National Park....The Olympic Mountains are not very high, Mount Olympus, the highest, is just under 8,000 feet, but they rise almost from the water's edge and intercept moisture-rich air masses that move in from the Pacific. As this air is forced over the mountains, it cools and releases moisture in the form of rain or snow. At lower elevations rain nurtures the forests while at higher elevations snow adds to glacial masses that relentlessly carve the landscape. The mountains wring precipitation out of the air so effectively that areas on the northeast corner of the peninsula experience a rain shadow and get very little rain. The town of Sequim gets only 17 inches a year, while less than 30 miles away Mount Olympus receives some 200 inches falling mostly as snow.
one more look...
Race Rocks Light is one of two lighthouses that were built on the west coast of Canada, financed by the British Government and illuminated in 1860. It is the only lighthouse on that coast built of rock, (granite) purportedly quarried in Scotland, and topped with sandstone quarried on Gabriola Island. The Islands of Race Rocks are located just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, about 16 km southwest of Victoria, British Columbia.
The lighthouse was built between 1859–1860 by the crew of HMS Topaze and outside labourers under a contract awarded to John Morris by the British Government. It was illuminated on 26 December 1860, six weeks after the smaller Fisgard Island lighthouse built at the entrance to Esquimalt Harbour near Victoria. In 2010, both lighthouses celebrated their sesquicentennial.
It has a 24.4 m cylindrical tower with black and white bands, and flashes a white light every 10 seconds. Its foghorn sounds three blasts at one minute intervals. On Christmas Day 1865 a group of five visiting the lightkeeper capsized their boat in a tide rip while attempting to land and all were drowned.
The lighthouse has been automated since 1997 at which time Lester B. Pearson College took over the management of the station and the surrounding Race Rocks Marine Protected Area. Restoration of the interior and exterior of the historic light tower was carried out in 2009.
What makes this scene even greater...the view looking South into Washington State...Olympic National Park....The Olympic Mountains are not very high, Mount Olympus, the highest, is just under 8,000 feet, but they rise almost from the water's edge and intercept moisture-rich air masses that move in from the Pacific. As this air is forced over the mountains, it cools and releases moisture in the form of rain or snow. At lower elevations rain nurtures the forests while at higher elevations snow adds to glacial masses that relentlessly carve the landscape. The mountains wring precipitation out of the air so effectively that areas on the northeast corner of the peninsula experience a rain shadow and get very little rain. The town of Sequim gets only 17 inches a year, while less than 30 miles away Mount Olympus receives some 200 inches falling mostly as snow.
one more look...
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