Back on the island

Today started around 5 am when my body was telling me I really should be out of bed and eating lunch. The journey from England had gone well - apart from the fact that a wheel on my bag had collapsed about 50 yards from closing my front door and having dragged it to the station, one wheel was round and the other very definitely not.

Too late to worry about minor technical problems; it would have to be carried onto the underground anyway in London and it would be good practice for my arrival in Canada.

Air Transat (or Air Transh*t as Emma would say) was punctual, if a little spartan, and arrival at YVR went well, until the queue in the immigration hall blocked the bottom of the escalators. Almost an hour later, the baggage was waiting on the carousel and I took the shuttle to the hotel.

The morning dawned to a bright blue sky and I decided to head back to the airport early for breakfast at Tim Horton's. I had an hour before the Nanaimo coach left and I sat there considering whether I really wanted to carry my bags across Nanaimo to the harbour. A phone call to Graham at the Silva Bay HQ of Tofino Air and I'd actioned Plan B, so it was down to the SeaAir terminal on the shuttle to prove to myself that a seaplane really could lift off with 4 people (and my luggage) on board. It did.

It's an interesting first time experience sitting behind the pilot on a 50(ish) year old DeHavilland Beaver, with the only acknowledgement to the 21st century being the GPS Navigation system by the front seat passenger's knees. The lever protruding from the floor next to the pilot's seat was not the handbrake or the seat adjuster, it controlled the flaps - with the throttle, propeller pitch and fuel mixture all controlled by sliding knobs reminiscent of the heater controls on a 1949 Ford Prefect. In fact, they may well have been the heater controls from a 1949 Ford Prefect. I never did quite work out what the red knob over the pilot's head was for, but it evidently needed regular tweaking throughout the flight.

As the engine spluttered into life we donned our ear protectors and taxied down the estuary to take off. The water below turned from a muddy brown to a deep blue as we approached the islands and 15 minutes later we were over Silva Bay. After a quick loop round the bay to check that the 2 or 3 sailboats on the move were not going to get in the way, we were brought in to a smooth landing in the marina.

Graham was waiting at Silva Bay terminal to take my money and he confirmed that he had the booking for Pete, Sally, Gav and Jess in June. There's no going back now, Sally! I think even Heidi may enjoy it.

All's well back on the island - the grass has grown madly of course, so that's where I'll be spending the afternoon. The car's still away visiting Richard, so I may see that later on!