Growing up in Barbados, the gap between the longest and shortest day of the year is just over an hour’s difference. Basically, sunrise is shortly after 6am and sunset happens around dinner time.

Here in southern BC, Canada, I’m writing this at 7:40pm and it’s still very bright out. The sun will still be above the horizon for another hour. If there is one thing I’ve loved about moving to Canada, it’s long, bright summer nights. This is especially great on the west coast. I don’t really enjoy it in places with mountains to the west.

For example, my wife grew up in Nelson BC, and when I used to visit there, the sun would go behind the mountains and it would be dusk for what felt like hours. I find that time of day tiring. I find that my eyes struggle to focus and I quickly feel drained. In Barbados dusk lasts about 10 minutes. You see the sun set below the horizon and moments later you have darkness. To me dusk is meant to be a fleeting moment, not a dragged-out eternity. Back here on the west coast, dusk isn’t as quick as Barbados, but it’s not nearly as bad as Nelson.

The slightly longer period of dusk is worth it here to enjoy a few more hours of summer daylight. I love having dinner and still feeling like there is a lot of the day left… it makes the summer seem longer in the best possible way.