Chilly Sunday Sunrise at Royal Bay Beach

Another chilly West Coast Sunday morning, another reason to pull over at Royal Bay Beach.

You know that kind of sunrise that makes you forget you’re holding a coffee, because your fingers are too busy freezing off while you fumble for the drone controller? Yeah — one of those mornings.

The sky was glowing bright orange, the tankers were parked offshore like they’d reserved front-row seats, and Victoria was just starting to wake up. Couldn’t resist taking the Air 3S out for a few shots — mostly just to justify why I was up this early on a Sunday.

And sure enough, the universe has a sense of humor — same guy, same truck, same parking spot as the last time I came down here. At this point, we might as well start a Royal Bay Beach sunrise club. Great guy, knows all the local history, and somehow always beats me to the beach.

It’s always nice running into locals like that — just two people watching the light hit the water, pretending it’s not freezing, and pretending this isn’t slowly becoming a habit.

Beautiful morning, beautiful shots, great conversation. If every early-morning flight turned out like this, I’d stop pretending I hate getting up early.

Vancouver Island Drones — still grounded (but never for long).