Sable In Words – Contest Winners, April 2020
Announcing the winners! Thanks to everyone who submitted stories to the contest. All were interesting to read, and each provided unique perspectives and insights, and some surprises. We’ll do this again!
Announcing the winners! Thanks to everyone who submitted stories to the contest. All were interesting to read, and each provided unique perspectives and insights, and some surprises. We’ll do this again!
My aunt warned me that if I didn’t behave I’d be shipped off to Sable Island. Years later when I told her I was going to work on the island, she looked at me very seriously and said, “What did you do?”
A winter on Sable Island, working with the Meteorological Service for 3.5 months, from November 2015 to February 2016. The wind seems constant. You wouldn’t think sand moving over sand could be that noisy.
Three watercolour paintings by 12-year-old Laurie illustrate features of the island’s landscape and wildlife, expressing a sense of the energy of sand dunes, waves, grey seals, ponds and horses.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up! One Ocean Tours was advertising an adventure excursion around the Gulf of St Lawrence, but the highlight for us was the opportunity for a trip to Sable Island.
This writing contest ended on March 13th. Submissions are now being reviewed, and the winners will be announced on April 24th. Thank you to all who entered!
Images of Sable Island’s landscape features, flora and fauna large and small, beachcast curiosities, and weather, collected as encountered and presented in chronological order, some with notes.
The station’s last balloon and radiosonde were launched at 8:15 pm on August 20th 2019. As the balloon went quietly up into the dark on a foggy night, so ended Sable Island’s upper air program.
A roll cloud is a rare, and often spectacular, meteorological phenomenon. Since 1976, there have been six reports of roll clouds passing over the island. The most recent was this summer, on July 9th.
Standing on this island of sand on a cold winter day, experiencing a riot of sensations in a place that stimulates all of one’s senses—sight, sound, touch, smell and taste—all at the same time.
