To get to Long Sault Island, we had to paddle across the main shipping channel of the St. Lawrence Seaway. We didn’t see any big boats on the way out, but when we were on the beach I heard a distant rumble. A big bow soon followed around the point and we found ourselves looking up at a huge ship!

The craziest part about it was the water. For such big, beamy boats, these these things have very efficient displacement hulls. I’ve always marveled at how smoothly the cut through the water, putting out very little wake. On the beach this day, though, I understood what was happening a little more.

While the boat was still probably a quarter mile away, we noticed the water receding down the beach. And not just a little bit. I’m talking like thirty feet!

In this photo you can see where the water level was just a few minutes earlier. It got sucked out just like before a tsunami!

The boat passed us and we never saw any waves washing up on the beach. When it was about a half mile away the water rushed back in and the beach was back to normal.