Beach Info
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August 6 – Beach Advisory Lifted: all beaches in Kelowna are open.
August 2 – Beach Advisory: please note that swimming is not advised 500 metres north and 500 m. south of the mouth of Mill Creek into Okanagan Lake. City Park Hot Sands Beach and the beach area 500 metres to the south of the Mill Creek entrance to Okanagan Lake (five beach accesses – Lake Avenue, McTavish, Vimy, Beach Avenue, Burne Avenue) remain closed. Tourism Kelowna is directing beach-going visitors to other beaches in the area, including Gyro Beach, Rotary Beach, Bertram Park Beach, beaches in West Kelowna, Tugboat Bay beach, and Pauls’ Tomb beach. To read more on this, please visit City of Kelowna’s website linked here.
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July 30 - Wow, August long weekend already! Seems like July just flew by. It’s a gorgeous long weekend in Kelowna, with temperature highs forecasted to be in the 30s, and a scattering of showers here and there to cool us off. This gives me the perfect opportunity to talk about one of our favourite Kelowna pastimes in the summer: beach time! Here are some top picks for beaches this summer…
Jubilant boys enjoy beach time at Bear Creek, mentioned in this post. Photo submitted to Kelowna Is Still Picture Perfect Contest 2009.
In a previous post about beaches, I mention some favourite off-the-beaten-track beaches and other well-loved and popular ones. You can read about those beaches here. For this post however, I’ll try to highlight a few beaches that I didn’t touch on in the last post and also touch on the fabulous beach festival happening in City Park this weekend: Centre of Gravity!
Ahhh, beachy days of August are here!
On this note, the beach at City Park known as Hot Sands Beach has long been a popular favourite with Kelowna visitors and residents. First off, parking is easily available in City Park, and families will love the waterpark feature for the little ones. Mature trees in City Park allow for some much appreciated shade, while the sandy beach is a hit with sun-worshippers. This weekend, City Park is the site for the Centre of Gravity festival, which is expected to attract some 30,000 festival-goers this year.
Festival organizer, Scott Emslie describes the festival like this on the website: “The festival is built along Okanagan Lake with beer gardens located on the beautiful sandy beaches, a concert series each day, DJ shows, fashion shows, after parties each night, over 150 pro athletes competing in 6 different sports (beach volleyball, freestyle mountain biking, FMX, wakeboarding, jet ski racing, and basketball)…” Pretty dynamic!
From the heart of it all to the lesser-known, the beach at Bear Creek in West Kelowna is a lovely off-the-beaten track option. Pair this with some phenomenal hiking with views over the lake and Kelowna, and you have the makings of a great carefree day.
The beach at Tugboat Bay.
Of course, the other off-the-beaten track spot that bears mentioning once again is Bertram Regional Park beach, toward the end of Lakeshore Rd. This pebble beach features crystal clear waters, lots of shade in the adjacent park, and a dock that is perfect for getting into the water without giving your system any warning! The other great thing about Bertram is that you pass 2 wineries (St Hubertus and CedarCreek) on the way to the beach or on the return trip, so stopping in to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner becomes a natural.
This August long weekend, enjoy the beach, enjoy the festival buzz, and be sure you wear your sunscreen! Swimming in the lake is one of the great joys of living in this city, so stake out your spot in the sand, and venture in!
