I'm a contract worker and usually work winters and have the summers off but this past summer was very strange for two reasons: Covid-19 was still around and I had to work all summer. It wasn't so bad. Except for being stuck in an air-conditioned office on hot, summer evenings. The part I hated the most though was only having two days to get away on the weekends and that meant road trips around Cape Breton Island were in short supply.
I have many favourite beaches around Cape Breton but Inverness Beach is my all-time favourite because it has all of the things I love in one place; sand, warm, clear water and some of the best sunsets around.
During a usual Cape Breton summer, I travel to Inverness at least once a week. Unfortunately, since I was working five days a week in the evenings, it was impossible for me to make that 2.5-hour drive that often and I only made it there once this past summer.
I choose the long weekend during the first week of August as my one shot at a beach day in Inverness. I picked this weekend because the water is still cool in early July and late August can be iffy too with storms threatening the coast. In the past, that weekend seems to always be nice. Unfortunately, that was not the case this year.
When I left in the morning, it was with mild disappointment. The wind was from the north, the skies were grey and the temperature was unseasonably cool. My only hope was that the west coast of the island might be seeing some better weather. I arrived to much of the same with the added disappointment of the ocean being too rough to swim in.
The parking lot at the beach was my first indication that it was not a beach day in Inverness. It's usually so full that you have to park down the road and walk up. That day, there was hardly a car in sight. The ones that were there were either leaving or getting ready to leave because the conditions were not ideal.
I grabbed my towel and chair and ventured to check it out. Nope. Not a soul in the water! The water was too rough. Even the lifeguards, who were all bundled up in their warm sweaters, looked like they didn't want to be there. The only people using the beach that morning were the beach glass pickers and they were bundled up too. Disappointed, I returned to my car thinking I had just wasted my only chance to swim in the clear, warm waters of Inverness Beach.
Inverness isn't the only nice beach along the west coast of Cape Breton. Two more of my favourite beaches are only a short drive away. I thought that maybe there was a small chance one of those beaches might be suitable for swimming. Chimney Corner is quite protected on both sides by high cliffs and Whale Cove is also protected and faces another direction. It was a small chance but worth checking since I drove so far to get there.
I arrived at Chimney Corner first and it looked promising. Unfortunately, there were cars parked all the way up to the highway and there was nowhere safe for me to park. I kept driving to Whale Cove. Again, many cars were parked along the road, a good sign. Luckily, I found a spot and looked out over the embankment to see scores of people in the water, jumping off the floating dock and walking barefoot in the surf. How could this be? It was like a fall day only 20 minutes down the highway and here, it was like a typical mid-summer beach day!
For two hours, I enjoyed the clear, warm waters of Whale Cove. I should add that the water was very calm as well. Much different from the rough waters of Inverness that greeted me earlier that morning.
When I left Whale Cove, I headed for Cheticamp to grab some of those delicious nachos from Le Gabriel and ate them at a picnic table near the entrance of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. I drove along the Cheticamp Backroad and over to Cheticamp Island before heading back towards Chimney Corner. My hope was there were more parking spaces available so I could maybe go for a quick swim at another one of my favourite beaches.
I was able to drive right to the end of the road and park near the path that led to the beach. The water was calm, clear and warm here too. The crowds were starting to disperse as they usually do around supper time so I had the beach almost to myself for a while. Until well past 7 O'clock, I enjoyed a relaxing dip. I wanted to stay there all night but something was telling me I had to check out Inverness Beach one last time. Often, the winds die down in the evening and the possibility that I just might be able to grab a quick dip in the water right at sunset was what made me drive back to my original destination.
Only a few cars were parked in the beach parking lot when I arrived. Not a bad sign since that was the time most people go home for supper. If they return, it would be at sunset. I stepped out of the car still dripping wet from my swim at Chimney Corner only 15 minutes earlier and walked to the beach to see a handful of people in the calm, clear waters!
The wind had gone, the water was almost still and was so clear, you could see straight to the bottom. I didn't care that I would be driving all the way home in wet clothes. I didn't even care if the sun was no longer out to keep me warm after a dip in the ocean. I didn't care if I froze walking back to the car nor did I care if my car seats got wet. You only live once, right? And there are only a few things I love more in this world than a swim in the calm, clear, warm waters of Inverness Beach at sunset.
I took off my shoes and beach coverup and slipped into the water with the last rays of sunlight starting to slip below the horizon. A young man on a paddleboard headed out to sea at just that moment too. Looked like something out of a movie. Would have made a nice picture. I wasn't getting out of the water to grab my camera though. I was going to enjoy every last moment I could in that moment because I knew it might be the last one like it for a long time.
