Jumping off Basin Head bridge: Why it's still allowed

It's one of the Island's best-known and most popular beaches,shortlistedas one of the seven wonders of Canada.

Yes, Basin Head Provincial Park nearSouris, P.E.I., is famous for its singing sands, whichsqueakunderfoot as you walk across the beach but a close second is the infamous bridge-jumping.

• Basin Head named among best Canadian beaches

• Best P.E.I. beaches: Your favourite spots

Signs clearly state that jumping or diving is prohibited from the bridge or the sides of the wharf. But every day, people do exactly that under the watchful eye of lifeguards.

Why is it allowed? It's not, according to the province.

"Our policy is the signage is there in place, we don't recommend people jump, we say there's no jumping," said Shane Arbing, P.E.I.'s manager of provincial parks. "It's a constant battle at Basin Head."

Lifeguards don't enforce

"If you've been there before, you've seen certainly on a busy summer day the number of people who take it upon themselves to jump. Our guards are there for water activity and water rescues, not enforcement 35 feet up the dock," Arbing said.

The beach is interrupted by a channel of water that runs from the ocean to a small inland pond. Depending on the tides, the sides of the wharf are about 2.5 to 3.5 metres from the water, and the bridge is slightly higher. The water below is fast-running, giving jumpers the added thrill of being carried either into the basin or out into the Northumberland Strait.

And that's where swimmers can sometimes run into trouble.

"A lot of people use the run to float through," said Arbing.

"Our guards will have to go in on occasion and pull a young person out."

Risks to jumping

There are an average of 25 or 26 rescues at Basin Head every year for the last four or five years more than any other provincially-run beach.

The rescues are not just at the wharf, but also on the beach, so officials said they don't know how big a part the bridge plays.

The province doesn't track the number of injuries at Basin Head annually just water rescues but knows there are risks to jumping.

"If you were to hit the bottom, if you were to hit the wall on the way down, there's a number of things that could happen," said Arbing.

'No perfect world'

The high number of rescues at Basin Head is a result not only of high usage, according to provincial lifeguard coordinator Adam Ross, but likely also the demographic the beach attracts groups of boisterous teenagers. He notes that statistics show young adult men are much more likely to drown in Canada than others.

On a busy day, there are between eight and 10 lifeguards staffing three stations at Basin Head.

Since there's little they can do to stop the jumping, lifeguards say they try to educate people about the danger of jumping and manage the risks.

"Not swimming alone, making sure that people swim in supervised areas, not associating alcohol with swimming, those types of things," said Ross.

"It's about the prevention and education piece and really doing the risk management piece the best we possibly can. There's no perfect world in any facility ... With fun there is sometimes a little bit of risk."

Divers also inspect the wharf a number of times a season for safety.

Covehead bridge: not the same

Meanwhile, Parks Canada is hoping it's won the battle to stop recreational daredevils from jumping off the much higher Covehead bridge, which is on a busy road through the P.E.I. National Park on the North Shore.

• Barrier erectedonCoveheadBridge to prevent jumping

Having stepped up enforcement, signage and fines for the past several years, it's now added a nearly two-metre barrier to the top of the bridge railing.

Why can't the same be done at Basin Head?

• Basin Head beach rescues raise questions

• No plans to stop Basin Head bridge jumping, says province

It's comparing apples to oranges, said Arbing. Covehead is an active port on a busy road, while there are no boats allowed in the Basin Head run.

"To put some sort of barricade up to physically stop people from jumping, I don't know if that's a feasible solution," he added, pointing out some kind of walkway to the other side of the beach is needed.

"It's a tough site to manage."

'We don't endorse it'

But at Basin Head, the jumping is part of the draw.

"I can't make any bones about that. People go there to jump off the wharf and the bridge," saidArbing.

"It's an activity that's been going on for years. You'll seeYouTubesonline of folks that do that on their vacation ... and again we don't condone it, we don't endorse it."

A few years ago the province did try to put a cage on top of the bridge to prevent jumping, but people just jumped from its top.

"Putting up fences and barriers is one thing to maybe try to prevent people, but ... where there's a will, there's way," Ross said.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS INew P.E.I. film Pogey Beach seeks crowdfunding

• MORE PE.I. NEWS IWhy a P.E.I. man is making trees out of garbage