The red clays of Prince Edward Island are legend throughout Canada, and the rest of the World; the red clay-sand beaches are no exception.

Stretching for miles (or kilometres as we say here in Canada!) upon cherry-colored miles, they look like scarlet ribbons licking the Edwardian coast lines.

They resemble a near-matching hue of the little girl that makes the island famous, Anne of Green Gables, and have almost as great a presence as her on the island.

Many beaches surround the island, so the choice is yours. If you drive around for a few hours, you will probably have a hard time deciding on one to stay at, and always want to see what other amazing view is around the next bend.

My favourite beach was Cape Egmont, located just North of the Confederation Bridge, and West of Summerside, down a long sandy path. At the end of the pathway, there is small parking lot, surrounded by sand hills and thistley grass.

Upon exiting the car, I headed up one of the sand hill paths with my camera gear in hand. Long, green beach-grasses lined both sides of the path, and whistled quietly in the sea-breeze.

The deep red sand squished between my toes, warm in the afternoon sun. Until now, I could only hear the soft lapping of the low-tidal waves, but from the top of the hill I could see it all. The view was spectacular.

To my right, the beach stretched for miles, turning in a slight bend. Between the rich reds, royal blues and intense greens in front of me, I felt like I had entered some sort of acidic-colour-paletted dream world.

The hues were almost unbelievable, and overwhelming.

I descended from the hill, toward the beach. My friend had exited another way, and I went to meet her over on the larger beach.

The tide was low, so more red sand stretched on forever in every direction. There were hundreds of small tidal pools, glistening in the bright noon-sun.

Each small tidal-pool supplied a temporary home to dozens of tiny beach creatures. There were large crabs, tiny minnows and medium-sized Hermit crabs.

If you could manage to sneak up to one quietly enough, you were in for an amusing sight. All of the little Hermit crabs were scuttling around, like they had business to attend to; the moment that they took notice to your approaching footsteps –POOF!– they disappeared into their shells.

It happened so quickly, that if you blinked, you would miss it. It seemed that with each step, they would re-emerge, and then disappear again. It was like a strange dance, that was really more funny than anything.

The tidal pools along the edge were larger, and when the wind was still, acted like a mirror to the sky.

The reflection was beautiful and symmetrical; the clouds floated like cotton in the sky, and the crystal liquid showed two versions on the same world.

Walking out closer to the ocean waves, I could smell the salty breeze, and felt at ease and relaxed.

I set up my camera on a tripod by the shore, and ran out into the water.

After some ocean-dancing, my friend and I milled around the beach for quite some time, picking up unique shells and rocks.

We had a bit of a collection by the time we were done, sorted the ones we wanted, and left the rest where they belonged. We started to head back to the car, knowing we had a long drive ahead of us. We were days away from home, on a road trip, so we would have to find budget friendly hotels along the way.

But, we stopped for one last silly-photo-session before leaving.

That beach was one of my favourite beaches in all of Canada, if not my favourite. The peaceful mood and soothing atmosphere combined with the amazing colors and landscape, make it hard to compete with.

Sometimes when I’m having a hard time sleeping at night, I calm my mind by thinking of that day on the red beach.