Tag Archives: British Columbia

Coho at Work

There is a direct ferry from Port Angeles to downtown Victoria operated by Black Ball Line. Their boat is an old ship called the Coho. We have taken this route on a previous visit but didn’t use it this time. However, the regular arrival and departure of the Coho meant we saw it frequently during our stay. The ship has loading apertures on each side of the hull through which the cars can be loaded. Otherwise it looks like a pretty normal ship.

It wasn’t hard to know when they were leaving as there would be a blast on the ship’s horn. This was followed by swinging the boat around in the main harbor in order to be able to head out through the narrow passage to the open sea. The Coho first entered service in 1959 so is clearly not a new vessel. I have no idea whether there is any plan to replace her or whether, with regular refits, she will continue in service for years to come.

Passing Through the Gulf Islands

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To get to Victoria for our visit, we took the BC Ferries route from Tsawwassen. This route crosses some open water but then it weaves its way through the Gulf Islands. This makes for a really picturesque journey. On the day we crossed, it was a cloudy day but the beauty of the islands and the waterways between them was more than enough to compensate for the gloomy skies. Some of the passages are really narrow so you find yourself very close to the shore and looking at the houses and woodland areas along the water’s edge.

If you don’t mind being blown about a bit, standing out on the deck rewards you with great views. The only problem is you can only see to one side at a time. You need to nip through the boat to the other side periodically to see what is passing on that side. Not such a relaxing way to sightsee!

Otter Crew

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While walking along the harbor in Victoria, I happened to be looking over the edge when three otters came out from under where we were and dropped into the water. I was quite surprised by this and we watched them swim out a way into the water before the dived. It wasn’t long before they popped back up with their catches in their mouths. They then climbed up onto the jetty for one of the ferries to enjoy their crab lunch and to play around as otters are prone to do!

Legislative Chamber

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The legislature was out of session while we were in Victoria and access to the galleries over the chamber was closed. However, the door to the chamber was open so you could see the space in which the legislature meets. The speaker’s chair at the front was pretty grand. There were photos of all of the legislatures which made the room look huge but it was not that large. Clearly they had used a wide lens to get everyone in and it made the ones at the back seem miles away.

Blue Bridge

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A new Johnson Street bridge has recently opened across part of Victoria Harbour. It has replaced an old bridge that was apparently in bad condition. The new structure is a bascule bridge to allow larger boat traffic to access the inner areas of the harbor and it has a really cool design. While the bridge carries the road across the water, it has excellent access on either side for other users. The two sides carry both bike and foot traffic and they are wide enough to provide plenty of space for all users. There was plenty of foot traffic when I was there which might have had something to do with the Christmas Parade that evening.

In the evening, the bridge is well illuminated. The curvy nature of the structure provides lots of interesting details. The mechanism for raising the bridge is not concealed either so you can see the gear wheels involved in lifting it if you look below. On my walk back one evening I ended up spending a fair bit of time on the bridge because it provided so many possible angles to shoot it either to get the full bridge or to focus in on individual parts of it.

Elusive Coast Guard Bell 429

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I think the Coast Guard was messing with me while I was in Victoria. They operate a Bell 429 from their pad in the harbor and we saw it flying around on a regular basis. However, it always seemed to choose a route that took it just far enough away from me to avoid getting a decent shot. Plenty of longer range shots requiring a lot of cropping but nothing up close. The only time they came close, I didn’t have a long lens to hand. Very sneaky!

Rebuilding With a Shell

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We spent a long weekend in Victoria BC recently. A block from our hotel was an old building undergoing a complete rebuild. This is something that I have seen done a lot in London and I like the idea. Rather than flatten the building, the exterior structure is retained. The interior is completely removed and a new building is created within. This allows the city to maintain the look and feel of the old buildings with the authentic finishes while providing a modern building interior that will continue to be useful for current needs. The structure to hold up the exterior while work is underway is impressive on its own. I look forward to seeing what the finished building is like on some future visit.

Rotunda

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The provincial legilsature’s parliament building in Victoria is open to the public. The large dome, visible from outside, covers a rotunda beneath. You can see up from the first floor through an opening and then the second floor has a wider space under the dome. This area was filled by a tour party while we were there and they seemed to take an inordinately long time to move on. The process was extended as the tour guide told their stories and this was then translated for the benefit of the group. The only reason I mention it is that it meant I struggled to get a shot without some of them in it!

If we had hung around the party, we would, no doubt, have learned a lot of the symbolism of the artwork included in the building. It appeared to be a lot of the work that had been involved in developing British Columbia but I could be wrong. Directly under the rotunda was a boat that had been carved by a previous Premier and a First Nations representative. It was a neat piece of carving but I felt it could have been displayed in a way that would have shown off the work better.

Canadian Otter Special

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Harbour Air is the big player in the Victoria floatplane business. Most of their airframes were in standard colors but one of them was painted up in a nice Canadian Flag color scheme. I first saw it moored up against the jetty but later, when walking down near the water, it taxied out for departure. The takeoff run is a bit far out but I got some shots of it as it went on its way.

Viking’s Ramp

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As Bombardier has decided to remove itself from a number of its legacy aviation programs, Viking Aerospace has been willing to step in. It acquired the rights for a number of legacy de Havilland Canada products first and put the DHC-6 Twin Otter back into production. Since then it has acquired the CL215/415 amphibious waterbomber program and very recently the Dash-8/Q400 program. It has its headquarters at Victoria International so, after getting off the ferry and having a spot of lunch, we swung by to have a look. They have a very nice, modern headquarters building which stands out amongst the other airport buildings.

I took a look on the ramp. Their demonstrator Twin Otter was parked up along with a couple of clean airframes that looked like they were destined for new customers. A CL-215 was parked a bit further out. I discovered shortly afterwards that this one is about to undergo an upgrade program. There were plenty of people going in and out of the offices but the ramp was sadly quiet. No movements while I was there although we had places to be so I didn’t hang around for long.