Seaplane Flight to Victoria

It always starts this way…right place right time, I say something.

Two weeks ago I was at a party.  I got talking with my good friend Rae who’s sister Danielle (whom I also know pretty well) works for Harbour Air / West Coast Air, a charter service covering a huge section of the southern west coast of British Columbia.  I had mentioned that the one thing I’ve wanted to do this summer that I haven’t done yet is take a seaplane ride.  Turns out Danielle was quitting her job with the seaplane service in a week and was kind enough to extend me one of her remaining FREE buddy passes.  I took her up on it the very next morning.

This is Coal Harbour, or rather the part of it that I like the most.  Seaplanes land here and there is a nice restaurant in view of the seaplane dock called The Mill amongst other things.  Since a while back Harbour Air and West Coast Air have become the same company.

I was a bit tired after partying late but there was no way I was missing this opportunity, I had been wanting to fly in a seaplane since I first came to Vancouver in 2004.  In fact, I had never been to Victoria yet either (just didn’t get around to it) so this became the destination.

I was greeted by some very kind staff (Nicole below) and a lovely woman named Laura at the snack bar who offered me a quality latte as well as a chocolate donut.  After a bit of waiting I was slotted in for a flight.

This is rad.

This is a West Coast Air Sea Otter twin prop seaplane.

Taking off in a sea plane is as cool from the inside of the plane as it looks from the outside.

If I didn’t have a full appreciation for the landscape of Vancouver area before, I sure do now.  Did I mention that I live in the best place on Earth?  Flying at only a couple of thousand feet really drives it home.  The flight was 35 minutes from take-off to land, I would have stayed on longer.

Landing in Victoria was just as fun.  There is a long harbour with airplanes, boats, whale tour zodiacs and some fabulous architecture to greet you as you land.  It was smooth landing, the pilots were flawless.

Landing is possibly even more exhilarating than taking off.

I’m here.  Harbour Air Victoria, WOOT.

Victoria as it turns out is really nifty place.  The old parliament buildings and the surprisingly quiet atmosphere caused me to feel like I was in a smaller town that had a lot of history.

Once landed I meandered around the downtown core for a while and fell upon a really nice gallery where I plan to sell my artwork.  It’s called The Olde Towne Gallery – ironically they sell very mordern artwork, much of which is local artisans.  Really nice people, check it out for sure.

After some more wondering around I got hungry. I decided to take a ride with Victoria Harbour Ferry to find some tasty food.

Nice boat.

I was hungry for fish and chips.  The locals recommended Barb’s Fish and Chips located in Fisherman’s Wharf, a place that features numerous floating houses and business buildings all tied to the docks.  They were right by the way…that was some good fish and chips.

While eating, I was distracted by a fine marine mammal friend that stopped by to say hello.

This seal was super cute and a bit chubby I might add which just added to the effect.  People were feeding him/her fresh fish from the market next door.

I finished my meal and noticed a fine young lady with a very colourful apron walking out of a floating dessert shoppe behind me.  I commented on the apron, she laughed and we started talking.  Turns out she’s helping her friend Jordie run this brand new floating shoppe called The Wonderful Wild Whimsical Floating Dessert Shoppe.

See, it floats!

Below: Left is Janie and right is Jordie, two lovely ladies selling coffee and cupcakes made from local ingredients.  I can personally vouch for both the quality of these women and the tasty snacks they make.  Wow, those cupcakes are good.

Jordie makes regular and mini-sized ones… there is a quality about them that I have yet to encounter from other cupcake shops from my neck of the woods.  The icing is like ice-cream and the cake is perfectly moist, light and not overly sweet.

If you’re headed to Victoria I strongly recommend stopping by.

In fact as a little incentive I spoke with Jordie and we worked out a deal for you, my dear reader.  When you go to The Wonderful Wild Whimsical Floating Dessert Shoppe just mention the “Obviously Tasty” deal from my blog. This will allow you the following:  get any coffee order (espresso,tea or drip) and you will get a homemade delectable mini-cupcake on the house!

- COUPON DETAILS HERE -

Jodie is also featuring her artwork (as well as one of her friend’s paintings on the right) in the shoppe which accents the already simple and delightful atmosphere of this floating wonder.

Moving along I realized it was already time to jump back on the boat and catch my flight back!   My friend at Habour Air had texted me to make sure I knew when to get on the next standby flight. I raced over to the terminal and jumped on.

I arrived just in the nick of time to catch the last available flight.

This time it was the Super Beaver.  A bit of a rougher ride but also a bit more adventurous.  As per before the scenery was incredible.

Back Seat…sweet.

And off we go…just as pretty on the way back.

Little islands everywhere, just setup on the beach there somewhere…

This is just cool.

Richmond, BC. Lots of farmland.

And back in a flash.  I did the whole trip in a window of 5 hours.

Upon arriving back home, I found a new appreciation for the excellence that is the place that I live in.  I often think that this place is pretty much everything I imagined an awesome living place would be like.  Sure glad I made the move.