Vancouver Island's famed beaches, including those at Parksville and Qualicum Beach on the east coast and in Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast, occur where waves erode sand and gravel from cliffs of glacial deposits or from river-mouth deltas. During winter, many beaches shrink as storms move sand offshore. The sand is carried back to the beaches by smaller waves and currents in summer.

Resistant metamorphic rocks form rocky headlands while soft glacial deposits erode into sandy beaches, Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park larger image [JPEG, 110.4 kb, 736 X 517, notice]

View south from Rathtrevor Provincial Park on Englishman River larger image [JPEG, 69.3 kb, 466 X 636, notice]

Goose Spit larger image [JPEG, 48.0 kb, 837 X 499, notice]