Amphitrite Point Lighthouse is an active lighthouse near Uclulelet on the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

, Canada, named after

Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (; grc-gre, Ἀμφιτρίτη, Amphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).Roman, L., & Rom ...

, the sea goddess and wife of

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

. It is also known for one of the sample pictures in

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearl ...

Geography

Amphitrite Point Light on the Wild Pacific Trail

Amphitrite Point has the only active lighthouse in the

Tofino Tofino ( ) is a town of approximately 2,516 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The District of Tofino is located at the western terminus of Highway 4 on the tip of the Esowista Penins ...

Ucluelet Ucluelet (, also Ukee) is a district municipality (population 1,717) on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Ucluelet means "people of the safe harbour" in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth ...

area accessible by automobile, with the only other local lighthouse being on Lennard Island, viewable only by air or boat. The Amphitrite Point Light is located at the southern end of the Ucluelet Peninsula and the north side of the

Barkley Sound , image = Fishing boat in the Broken Group Islands.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Barkley Sound , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , locat ...

, approximately 3 kilometers south of downtown

and 40 kilometers south of

. The lighthouse tower is closed to the public but the grounds are open as part of the Lighthouse Loop section of the

Wild Pacific Trail Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 ...

. In addition to hiking the trail to view the lighthouse, visitors can park at the end of Coast Guard Road and walk directly to the lighthouse in 2–3 minutes. Amphitrite Point, much like the rest of the Ucluelet Peninsula, is subjected to frequent winter storms and has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

Cfb) with approximately 3.3 metres (130 inches) of annual rainfall. The next active lighthouse to the north of Amphitrite Point Light is the Lennard Island Lighthouse off of Chesterman Beach; the next active lighthouse to the south is the

Cape Beale Light Cape Beale Lightstation is an active manned lighthouse on Vancouver Island in British Columbia., Canada. History The lighthouse was built in 1874 and its focal plane is 51 meters above sea level. The present tower was built in 1958 and marks ...

station on the south side of

Barkley Sound , image = Fishing boat in the Broken Group Islands.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Barkley Sound , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , locat ...

History

The first lighthouse at this site was a small wooden tower built in 1906. This lighthouse was destroyed in bad weather in 1914, and the current concrete lighthouse opened in March 1915. Amphitrite Point is exposed to frequent gale-force winds, tidal waves and is also in a tsunami inundation zone, so the current lighthouse (built in 1915) derives its peculiar shape and construction from being designed to withstand strong westerly storms coming off the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. It was staffed by

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...

lighthouse keepers from 1915 until 1988, when it was automated.

Oceanographic research

The Amphitrite Point Light is one of 12 lighthouses part of the

British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program The British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program is a sea surface temperature and salinity monitoring program on the Canadian coast of the northeast Pacific Ocean. The program is administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and regroups 12 ...

, collecting coastal water temperature and salinity measurements everyday since 1934. Their data show an increase in coastal water temperatures of 0.08 °C per decade. This trend is a result of

anthropogenic climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Climate

Gallery

File:AmphitriteLight2.jpg, File:AmphitriteLight1.jpg, File:AmphitriteLight4.jpg, File:AmphitriteLight3.jpg, File:Amphitrite_Lighthouse_(7032448135).jpg,

References

External links

Aids to Navigation
''Canadian Coast Guard'' {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1915 Lighthouses in British Columbia Clayoquot Sound region Barkley Sound region Vancouver Island