PNW2007 Day 10

[soareyes]

Free day in Victoria today with no Sevens driving. I took a float plane hop along with Dion and his wife Sindy. Here's the plane, a Beaver:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1702149800_DSCN2569.jpg

 

Dion got copilot duties:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/714828983_DSCN2521.jpg

 

He's making sure the pilot knows where to go:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/50852551_DSCN2525.jpg

 

Very smooth takeoff, my first on water:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/687295017_DSCN2559.jpg

 

Airborne!

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/245708778_DSCN2531.jpg

 

The floatplanes run scheduled passenger service between the various islands, and operate in the harbor right downtown. This is a shot of central Victoria and the harbor:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/193173340_DSCN2539.jpg

 

Lining up for a landing:

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1213080102_DSCN2555.jpg

 

 

Now it's off to dinner and early bedtime to make the ferry to Washington tomorrow.

 

[johnh]

I did a little walking around town:

 

Miniature World: :bigears:

 

http://usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1498954425_parade.jpg

 

Another Smart car:

 

http://usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/493723069_married.jpg

 

The castle on the hill:

 

http://usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1021378995_castle.jpg

 

The Maritime Museum:

 

http://usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2059066959_irons.jpg

 

Tomorrow we need to try and get spots on the ferry to Port Angeles, we should

have made reservations (ferry is booked, we'll be on stand by )

 

http://usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/363780058_coho.jpg

[Boxologist]

the tour is looking more and more impressive. :cheers:

[pierats]

More pics from our rest day in Victoria:

 

The inner harbor:

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/789965870_IMG_5694.jpg

 

At the beach:

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/828396994_IMG_5699.jpg

 

At the pub:

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/784575455_IMG_5731.jpg

 

The intrepid adventurers have dessert:

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1129194849_IMG_5738.jpg

 

The infamous Nanimo bar!!:

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1658915496_IMG_5739.jpg

 

 

[Al N.]

In addition to the pix, I'd love to hear some POVs and other assorted lore from the trip...when time permits.

[soareyes]

Here's another POV from Sindy Davis:

 

A day off in Victoria, B.C. seemed to be a relief for the drivers. At

least it was for Dion (squarefour).

 

There was so much to do there. Many of the group went to the museums,

irish bars, shopping malls, irish bars, etc. Get the picture? Dion and I

took a bus tour around the town to get the lay of the land. Then with

Stan Sadorf we grabbed a float plane and flew around Vancouver Island. I

was disappointed that our landing was perfect and didn't produce any sea

spray. :-) Oh, btw, dinner was at the irish bar for fish and chips with

the group.

 

Dion and I also did a 4hr whale watch tour on a zodiac and saw zero

whales, but a ton of Orcas which are actually oversized dolphins. Who

knew?! Anyway it was a fantastic trip that I would recommend.

 

So the "ferry conference" occurred that night at 6pm. None of us had

reservations for the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA (oops).

Some of us, including our support Mike Johnson, had inquired on the best

time to get in line for the 10:30am. The answers ran from 8pm the night

before to 8am that morning.

 

We decided to meet at 4:30am (some of us pax stayed asleep) to get in

line. John Christiansen was informed that morning (4:30) and had to

struggle with his luggage to make it in time. Consequently he twisted

his knee. Not a good thing for a driver.

 

Turns out, the drivers were able to make the 6:10 ferry and those of us

sleeping had 15 min to dress, call a taxi, and get to the terminal. All

was well, but, we were incredibly tired the rest of the day and John C.

went home :-( due to the knee issue.

Sindy