Tag Archives: British Columbia

Floatplanes Since I’m In Vancouver Anyway!

Our November visit to Vancouver was about us doing some fun stuff with friends and enjoying what a great city has to offer. However, when staying so close to the waterfront, it was improbable that I wouldn’t spend a little time watching the floatplane operations. Even non-enthusiasts find the floatplanes enjoyable to watch so I am not standing out too much here. The weather wasn’t ideal and the early evenings meant flying would be curtailed before it got too dark but I was happy to get a little bit of flying to watch as part of my weekend away!

Seabus

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While in Vancouver in November, we made a trip to North Van to see some friends. That meant a trip on the Seabus. The tricky thing about getting images of the Seabus is that you can’t really do anything if you are traveling on it. The dock is enclosed and the views are restricted so you don’t really have any options (or at least I haven’t worked out what they might be). However, I did go to the heliport which is very close by and this does provide a better view of the comings and goings of these ferries.

It’s not the most elegant of vessels but it does the job effectively. Back and forth without turning since it is a bi-directional vessel. It’s all about shuttling across the harbor as efficiently as possible. I did also shoot some video of it but it is safe to say that there is nothing terribly dynamic about it that makes for an exciting video!

Helijet Operations in Vancouver Harbour

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Our long weekend in Vancouver did include some slightly gloomy weather. When the conditions were not enticing for wandering around the city, I hopped in the car to head down to the heliport on the waterfront. Despite having been to Vancouver many times, I had never actually got down to the heliport itself. It was really easy to get to from our hotel and the car was welcome in the crummy conditions.

Weekend traffic levels are lower than during the week but there is traffic to Nanaimo and Victoria so that helps a little. I was happy to sit around for a while and get some shots. I’m sure a busy weekday would be better and having some slightly nicer weather wouldn’t hurt. I did figure that, since I had got some shots, a little video might be worth a shot. I was able to get some arrival and departure video so edited that together in the piece below. Helijet’s S-76s are nice looking airframes. I would love to take a trip with them some time – I just assume the luggage allowances are not great!

Unusual Shaped Buildings in Vancouver

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There area few buildings in Vancouver where the architects have been a little adventurous. Some of them are visible from the shore as you walk around Stanley Park and I grabbed some photos from a distance. There is one that is near the bridge as you drive towards Granville Island. You can see part of it from the Island but a good view is on the road as you drive by. I asked Nancy to try getting some shots as I was driving. The tapered edge makes the building feel like it is hanging over the road. Very interesting engineering!

Gull’s Crab Lunch Under Threat

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As we walked along the shore trail in Stanley Park, we came up on a gull that had just caught a crab. The gull was intent on eating the crab, as well you might imagine. However, its lunch had also caught the attention of a bunch of crows (could hardly call them a murder). Consequently, the gull was trying to find a way to avoid the crows and eat its food. It was not going to escape them, of course. Instead, it had to do the best it could and accept that they were going to get a few scraps.

Arriving Container Ship

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Nancy and I were walking along the shore in Stanley Park in Vancouver during our visit over the Thanksgiving weekend. As we got closer to the lighthouse, I saw the prow of a ship start to come into view. A quick switch to video and I recorded the arrival of a container ship to the harbor. Large vessels like that coming through a narrow entrance to a harbor look cool to me. Once the harbor opens out a bit, it is just another large ship in open water so the scale is lost. In that phase when it comes into view, though, it looks as substantial as it really is. Get close and you are left in no doubt about these ships.

Vancouver Christmas Market

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We took a trip up to Vancouver at the end of November. They had set up their Christmas market near where we were staying and our hotel rate included tickets. It was only open at peak times while we were there but I think the hours were expanding not long after our visit. These markets are always interesting to walk around but they rarely have anything that I would actually want to buy – other than food and booze! In this case, we were heading out to dinner with friends afterwards so we even skipped that side of things. They are always a colorful and popular place so you can just enjoy watching everyone enjoying themselves and occasionally wonder at some of the strange things people will buy!

Lighthouse at Fort Rodd Hill

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Playing catch up with some older topics today. Our trip to Fort Rodd Hill made it on to the blog a long time ago but what I never got around to including was the lighthouse. We walked down the hill from the fort to see the lighthouse. We had been looking at it from the fort itself, but it was not a long walk to get down to the water and see where it was situated.

The entrance to the harbor will have been vital from the earliest days that the British established a navy base at Esquimalt. This lighthouse would have guided generations of ships into the port. I assume that it is now more symbolic than anything else. The modern navigation systems will provide accurate guidance, but it is still a landmark.

Coast Guard Vessel

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A Canadian Coast Guard boat was up on the shipyard being worked on while we were in Victoria. A ship out of the water has a very different feel given how much it sits above you and the view of the area below the waterline. It changes the scale of the vessel to my eye. I’m not sure what work was being undertaken and wonder whether it is already back in service or not.

Hatley Castle

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About half an hour from the center of Victoria BC is a large estate called Hatley Castle. It is a pretty grand place in a lot of land. Much of the land is now turned over to a university with the campus buildings spread out through the estate. The old house is still there and I think it now an administrative building for the university. I read that it is also used for a lot of filming work.

The house is quite impressive and there are also some formal gardens. We wandered around the outside of the house and up the hill a little. We could look over one of the gardens from the terrace area but it appeared the access to the gardens was restricted when we were there. Not sure whether that was a COVID issue or just for work to be done. The lawns slope down towards the sea and there is a nice view from the terrace. It isn’t hard to see why someone chose to build their home there!