The Flags are out. It's...

Canada Day

Sat July 1st 2023

Returning to the Coast from Vancouver last Tuesday

Canada Day falls on July 1st which means Monday will be a public holiday, giving Canadians a long weekend to the start off school holidays.  Ferry services are full and the summer population of the Coast is set to double.  BC Ferries is taking some stick at the moment because of the high level of cancellations.  Staffing is the biggest issue, a common problem in global shipping at the moment,

according to the newly appointed CEO.  Ferries to and from the Sunshine Coast are heavily booked through July and into August meaning many travellers are having to turn up on spec.  Delays are frequent.  Apart from the first ferry of the day they have problems 'loading and unloading' ferries ... they do however, have to unload them first before they can load them and operational errors compound the problem.  Last week, a ferry was being moved at our local Langdale terminal, from the right single-deck dock to the left-hand double-deck dock and collided with the bit in the middle.  It came to a grinding halt!  

Some minor damage to the terminal and the ship, but an hour delayed - again.

I had a couple of days in Vancouver at the beginning of last week helping Nick with some work on the house and Seb-sitting.  

He started walking on Father's Day and is becoming a real character.  Now at nursery five days a week he seems to have settled in well.  He's not backward in coming forward, though his charm does not always work!

It was not for the want of trying, but she was just not interested!  

The Seb-sitting was fine, though I have had to re-acquaint myself with changing poopy 'diapers'.  Joy.  

Last Saturday, June 24th, we went down to the Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival and listened to the Brubeck Brothers (sons of Dave Brubeck) perform.  The sun shone and the setting of the Winegarden Waterfront Park had the beautiful backdrop of the harbour, the Bluff and Keats Island.  

It was the culmination of a week-long Jazz Festival on the the Coast.  The Wednesday prior we'd gone to the 101 Brewhouse for a supper and jazz evening with some local friends.   

The Brubeck Brothers

Birdlife seems to have doubled in number now that I have had modern micro, technological ear 'trumpets' fitted.  I didn't realise how much I was missing as I couldn't hear it!  Family pressure (AKA nagging) reached a crescendo, apparently, so off I toddled to get it checked.  Probably too many years shooting without ear protection. I can now listen to the TV without the neighbours listening in as well.  Fortunately it does have an iPhone app that enables me to turn the volume down or switch it off when I want to go 'quiet'!

Anyhow, back to birds.  A family of Cedar Waxwings have been around and I managed to catch a parent feeding what looks like its fully-fledged young.  Great to watch.  Taken with my big camera.

The images are better on a bigger screen.  

The most recent avian highlight was actually this Saturday morning, when an Osprey put in an appearance off our Bonniebrook Beach.  It caught my eye when it dived from a great height before emerging from the sea minus its breakfast.  Very different to the resident Bald Eagles, which is probably why I spotted it.

Inevitably, I didn't have my camera with me.  It's the first time I have seen an Osprey in the wild.  They are an 'uncommon' summer visitor

Remaining on the bird theme, our usually prolific hummingbirds seem fewer in number this year.  The year round Anna's Hummingbird and the summer Rufus Hummingbird migrants were both regular visitors to the feeder throughout the day.  It's now a once a day sighting if we're lucky.

I have not seen any commentary on their numbers, but it is quite evident there are fewer about.

Some of you may have seen the news of a teenager who went missing in the Golden Ears Provincial Park NE of Vancouver on Tuesday June 27th.  It was covered on the BBC here.

Some friends who live below us on Bonniebrook Beach were camping there at the time.  They had helicopters, drones and Search & Rescue teams constantly over and around them for the two days they were there.  The teenage walked out of the trail on Friday, unharmed, aside from a few mosquito bites.  All very curious and so far no explanation. 

As many of you will be aware from UK news coverage, forest fires continue to burn across Canada with large swathes of the US and parts of South and South-Eastern Canada bathed in smoke. It has, so far, avoided our corner of BC with only occasionally a faint whiff of smoke.  The open fire/camp fire ban that was lifted, inexplicably a few weeks ago, has been reintroduced and we're in Stage 1 water restrictions.

There are currently 358 fires as of June 28th and the 3,020 fires this year, have affected 7,974,865 ha.  To put this in context, the UK is 24,871,756 ha. 

Before we moved to Canada there were often news reports in the UK media about how inefficient the UK was at collecting medical fees from visitors to the country.  In checking to see if this was still newsworthy The Daily Mail had a story in February of this year that the NHS was owed £219m.  A drop in the ocean of the NHS coast of £153b, but not insignificant.  

In Canada, as temporary residents, we have to pay for everything and are required to have statutory insurance that is not cheap.  We knew that before we left.  Our engagement with the BC medical services has been financially very efficient.  Waiting times are not so efficient and little different to the UK, but their billing system works amazingly well.  If you don't have a BC health insurance number, credit cards are required at the point of booking.  Costs don't feel unreasonable, I guess because we are being charged by a federal health system as distinct from a commercial operator.     

I know I have waxed lyrical about the BC ferry crossing between West Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) and the Coast (Langdale) in the past.  But I remain captivated by the beauty of the Howe Sound and the privilege of living where we do.  Last week I enjoyed the view from the deck as I made my crossings to and from Vancouver.  Fortunately it was warm.

Departing Horseshoe Bay

Bowen Island Ferry departing Horseshoe Bay

Howe Sound