Long days were spent at Dominion – drinking beer, swimming, walking the beach, hoping to get noticed. We would bring our “ghetto blasters” and listen to Def Leppard. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” still brings back those Dominion days. Whenever I hear it, I have a desire to go to the beach.
This all ended a number of years ago when the beach closed due to high bacteria levels from sewer outflows. The beach became a ghost town. The take-out place on the beach closed. The beginning of the beautiful boardwalk was covered by rocks tossed up during Nor’easters. It was during these “dark days” that I fell in love with Dominion Beach all over again. I discovered the other, more subtle levels of its beauty. The boardwalk bisects the beach so that the ocean and sand dunes are on one side and the amazing wetland is on the other. Great blue herons patiently fish – the dinosaur birds, I call them. A family of foxes peeks playfully up every once in a while from behind the grasses. People walk the boardwalk with their dogs – getting exercise, fresh air and peace of mind. There is a lot of beauty on this protected beach that can best be experienced when the crowds are gone.
This year, the beach re-opened. We went today – Bailey, Marcie and I – and swam at the beach for the first time in years. There were a lot of people, but not quite like in those glory days. Dominion Beach is a great long sandbar where you can enjoy people watching in the crowds or wander down the far end for solitude. There are lifeguards on the beach which make it a great beach for families with small children. Dominion has everything and something for everyone. In fact, this year, the beach day celebration is returning on July 28th from 12-4 pm with music, entertainment and activities for the whole family. There will even be some beach volleyball games! Thankfully, this beach was important enough to us as a community to do something about the sewer and bring it back to its popular, social splendour. Now if only people would stop leaving their garbage. When we were there, we picked up Styrofoam cups, Pepsi cans and pieces of plastic. Why anyone would leave their trash on a beach is beyond me. Hopefully, we will learn from the example of Dominion and value our beaches enough that we start respecting them more by keeping them clean and not destroying the sensitive areas such as wetlands and sand dunes.
Welcome back Dominion Beach!
Until next time, I’m off on another Beach Bum Adventure!
Wayne McKay says
Hey Charles. I also did some digging about the lifeguard situation. The lifeguards in Dominion were taken from Indian Beach which is closed for swimming due to high bacteria levels and was one of the least visited beaches in the last few years. The Lifeguard Service was considering pulling the lifeguards from this beach whether Dominion opened or not. It actually makes sense to have them at Dominion because it is open and very busy. Other beaches with lifeguards in CBRM are Mira Gut and Kennington Cove. Kennington Cove's lifeguard service is provided by Parks Canada. The other two are through the NS Lifeguard Service.
Wayne McKay says
Hey Charles. Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know that about the take-out place because I was living away when it closed. I'm glad that Dominion has stopped cars from driving down the beach. Morien and Big Glace Bay still have issues with this. I've also seen ATVs tearing up and down Big Glace Bay. I worry about the impact this is having on Piping plovers and other birds. Also, a lot of people let their dogs run through sensitive areas and this has a horrible impact on birds who nest on the ground. I used to be guilty of this but once I learned what kind of impact a dog can have I stopped. I keep my dog on a leash now. She is still happy to walk and I feel much better about things. Thanks again for your feedback.
Sonya says
Thank you for putting a smile on my face while in the office on this beautiful Tuesday in the Cape. I remember everything about Dominion Beach, just the way you told it. Oh the memories, LOL, oh and I especially remember those bikini contests, yep, I used to be able to do that….not so much anymore!! Thank you for a great read!
Charles says
An interesting article, but there are a few issues with it:
1.) The take-out place on the beach closed a few years before the beach's high bacteria problems. The last few summers before that incident were not the best in terms of weather, and beach attendance declined greatly.
2.) The Boardwalk gets covered with rocks and sand every year, and every year they clean it up. This has always happened.
3.) The foxes are new arrivals, only since the beach was closed. They arrived when the number of people using the beach began to decrease. They originally lived on the other side of the road, in the area of the brook. They are also not a universally welcome arrival, as since their arrival on the beach they have begun coming closer to local homes and have cost my family over a thousand dollars in vet bills after our cat was attacked in our own yard. They are also no doubt detrimental to the endangered bird populations that have been living on the beach for years (these birds are also one of the reasons you can no longer take a vehicle down the road that runs the length of the beach anymore).
It may also be worth mentioning that the only reason we have lifeguards this year is because they took them from another beach (the name of which escapes me) that now has none. Still, it's great to see the place reopened after so many years. I live right across the street and can say with all certainty that the last two weekends have been the busiest the beach has seen since the late 1990s. I also agree that garbage is a major problem. A great deal of it also blows up into my yard. What we need is more garbage bins; I believe the only ones we have currently are in either parking lot or the old take-out/bathroom/showers building.