An Ode to the Beaver

Today, I was voted off the island. OK, not really. I had to go to the big eastern city, to do some work. So off to Vancouver and its airport, and on to Toronto.

On the first leg of today's trip, this was my ride: the Seair scheduled flight from Lyall Harbour to Vancouver. It's a vintage De Havilland Beaver - and a very special one at that - the 1000th Beaver, out of the 1700 or so Beavers seaplanes that were built from the 1940s to the 1960s. There is an entire page dedicated to the story of the Beaver bush planes right here and Seair has a page describing this particular plane.

Today, exceptionally, I kept my camera handy because I wanted to record this 15-minute piece of airborne magic.

Two years ago, when I first sat in this plane on a similar trip to Vancouver, I noticed the controls. Those knobs are antique plastic! Note the shapes and colours. I assume they are different shapes so that the pilot can recognize which one he is touching without looking at it.

Today, I even got to sit next to the pilot, and wear the headphones so I could listen in to the air traffic chatter. You can see the prop is going and we are about to head off. I was like a little kid, this was a very joyful experience.

After crossing the Georgia Strait (10 minutes), we approach the mainland. Above, the view toward the South. In the distance is the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. I am not a religious person, but this kind of larger than life reflection of the sky strikes me as very awe-inspiring.

A few minutes later, we "round" the corner of the river. The seaplane base is up the river a bit, on the left. Around us, I could see three other seaplanes coming in, just like us, from other Gulf islands or from Vancouver island.

Water plays with mud in the delta of the Fraser river. Here is one of the many stunningly beautiful patterns that gleamed in the sun, this morning. Low tide reveals the patterns.

Arriving at the Seair base, right behind another commuter. After that magic bit of travel, I entered the world of ordinary big city stuff: airports, line-ups, security checks, crowds, you know the drill. Much less fun.

Now, on to a week of serious work.