Category: Tofino Air

FLOATPLANE ACCIDENT

Air Plane Crash, Tofino Air

There was a Floatplane accident this afternoon. It involved a Floatplane (Beaver) from Tofino Air. It appears the plane was coming in for a landing when It was struck by a boat! This is the first time I have ever heard of anything like this happening and I’ve been flying on floatplanes now for 40 years!

My sister in law came all the way out from Ontario to visit me. She had her sister and friends with her. They were the ones on board when this happened. Nobody was hurt but they did submerge and get hypothermic. She lost all her electronics as well.

I took video and stills of the plane being loaded onto a barge. Now the investigation begins to find out why this happened?

TOFINO AIR LANDING

Tofino Air

20140903-IMG_521920140903-IMG_5226I haven’t gotten out in what seems a very long time! When I did get out today the whole precess of getting my gear ready almost seemed foreign to me! Having said that,once I got the motor warmed up everything fell into place.
I headed down Browning to Grice Bay. The tide was high,so I thought I’d go in there looking for bears………………& I found two!
But because these bears are not familiar with the sound of a outboard engine,many are spooked at a distance & boot it. Grice Bay is a very shallow bay that almost empties at low tide. Because of this,very few people go down there! I personally have never ever seen anyone down there when I’ve gone! So these bears are use to certain sounds & the sound of a outboard isn’t one of them! So one of the bears did bolt & the other was too far into the shallows (even at high tide). So technically I did see two bears but didn’t get any good shots.
Headed back to Tsapee Narrows to visit with the Daredevil.(Delilah was around but she just sat there looking at me) Took a few of my friend & decided to head back into the harbour.
The sun is setting WAYYYY earlier now! So I have to adjust my times & start going out earlier.

The moon is beginning it’s final run to full,so I was conscious of this & was looking around constantly for any of my fine feathered friends perched. I like the Lovekin eagles perch for the moon or Strawberry island. They both have perches free & clear of tree limbs. I need a spot where the eagle is not obstructed by the rest of the tree. Only a few of those around.
I did get a few of the Daredevil but when he perched he did it from a bad angle! He had his back to me. Silly bugger!

I headed to Deadman island to visit with Romeo & Juliette. Juliette was else where tonight but Romeo was certainly around. He perched onto a low limb at one point & I went in closer. I talk to him when I do this & he actually cocks his head while looking at me as if he is trying to understand me! I only talk to a few of them but Romeo is the best!
No clouds for the sunset tonight but getting some silhouettes of Romeo doing his thing was still great! The sun had set & so I said goodnight to my friend & headed in.

Didn’t get any bears,but it was still a worthwhile shoot tonight!

TOFINO AIR LANDING

Tofino Air, Tofino Wildlife

20140819-IMG_431220140819-IMG_4313

 

I did head out tonight but was hesitant! I stayed around the harbour because my back up engine was acting up, the last time I ended up rowing back! I think I figured out why too! It doesn’t like being kicked up! The “float” must be sticking when I kick it up & the carb fluids? When the carb fluids,good luck starting it!

So tonight I went out with that in mind & stayed in the area again! It started up on first pull & purred perfectly through out the night! Had no troubles this time! All I need is for it to be a good little motor for three weeks & than I get my new motor & you won’t ever hear me complaining about motor troubles ever again folks!

So I headed out (cautiously) & went down to Tsapee Narrows to visit with the Daredevil & Delilah. Both were around & happy to see me. Delilah was reluctant however to come over & say hi.She’s always been touch & go that way.

I did get out later than normal so I didn’t hang around too long. Headed back into the harbour. I did go by Morpheus island with the intent of visiting Maggie but I didn’t see her perched anywhere & with the time being short,continued on past to Deadman.

Romeo didn’t come over to greet me tonight,but thats probably because he hasn’t seen me in 10 days! Eagles do get very fussy with their routines!

Took a few sunset shots of my friends & called it a night. Just glad to see my back up engine working well. (My main engine has a bad bearing in the power head & will require more money to fix it than what I bought it for! So am letting that sit & will wait for another power head to come around?)

All in all a good night out even if it was short.

TOFINO AIR COMING IN AFTER SUNSET

Harbour, Harbour shot at Sunset, Sunset, Tofino Air

20140716-IMG_1841This shot doesn’t tell the whole story?
It was a very low tide when I took this shot. After I shot this,I decided my evening shoot was done & beached my boat. I was preparing to bring my gear back up to the boat shed when I noticed beside me (other side of first st dock) this plane “trying” to get to the dock! I quickly realized that the low tide was stopping them! It looked like the planes pontoons were clipping a sand bar! A “Beaver” is a large heavy plane to begin with but with a full load of passengers it sits even lower in the water. The pilot was wading in the water trying to coax the plane closer to the dock but having trouble!
So I unbeached my boat & went around to the other side to see if I could help?
I thought if I took some of the people off of the plane that it would rise & the plane would skim over that sand bar it was getting caught on.
The plan worked perfectly! They were all very happy & good deed done,I went back to bringing my boat/gear back up to the boat shed.

TOFINO AIR COMING IN

Tofino Air

20130509-IMG_186020130509-IMG_186120130509-IMG_186420130509-IMG_186520130509-IMG_1870It was cloudy for most of the day today but it began to break & I didn’t need to be told twice!
Got out & headed straight for Gunner Inlet. Found a young bear in the shade & went by her in the hope of coming across a bear in the sunshine. Found a Sow with a cub but she was skittish & wandered off into the bush. Her mangy cub hung around briefly for a few shots & than followed Mummy!
Checked the rest of Gunner & returned to that female in the shade. She seemed calm & accepting. Couldn’t get too crazy about her because of the poor light,so only took a few. Said bye & went around into Fortune Channel looking for some of her friends?
Found two other single bears but were too far away from the shore & one of them was already displaying skittish behavior,so I left them alone.
Went across the Channel for Harbour Seals. They are such lazy cuties laying around on the rocks soaking up the suns warmth!
Said goodbye & headed back. Stopped off at Tsapee Narrows to visit with the Daredevil & Delilah. I couldn’t really get the exposure for them tonight? Sometimes It doesn’t work out. Left them & headed for Deadman Island to visit with Romeo & Juliette!
When I got near Romeo’s rocky throne,he saw me & flew straight over to say hi! The wind was up a bit! I hate those conditions! It darkens the waters surface & you can’t see the eagles contours! It’s lost against the darkened water.
Said goodnight to them both & went in. Overall i think it was a pretty good nights shoot!

HARBOUR SCENES

Brandt's Cormorant, Fishing Boat, Snow, Tofino Air, Tofino Wildlife

20130110-IMG_189720130110-IMG_190220130110-IMG_189620130110-IMG_1920I have been away for the Christmas holidays over three weeks & man was it great to get back to my beautiful Tofino!!
Had a great time visiting family & all,but coming back sure felt right! The sun was shining brilliantly today & I eagerly headed out in my boat to visit with all my wild friends!
I went straight down to Cannery Bay to visit with the Lions first. The tide was very high so there wasn’t too many on “Lion Rock”! Only 4 Stellers were on the rock when I arrived. I couldn’t find a single Californian anywhere at first!
I went on the inside of Cannery & found them (Californians only) on that float basking & barking. I think there numbers have decreased since I last saw them? Can’t been lots of food around if that’s happening than! They like Pilchard,but there can’t be too much food around to have them leaving so early?
I’m not sure if this is a what is going on or not?
I also didn’t find that one Lion with the wire wrapped around it’s throat & can only assume it has perished?

I have noticed at high tide when there isn’t alot of room on the rocks for them to laze around on,that they go hunting. Than with their belly’s full & the tide lower,they return to laze around. So basically I went for a visit when they were out shopping at the supermarket! (I hope?)
Time will tell?
Said goodbye to my voicestress friends & headed over to Rankin rocks to see if anyone was home. Not a soul was there! No birds or Harbour Seals!
I did find a few Seals further on towards Tranquil,but nothing to write home about!
Continued down into Tranquil Inlet to visit with the Trumpeters. I could see them with my binoculars at a good distance at the end of the Inlet. I can never get close to these guys! They spook very easy & it was calm out,so they heard me coming several kilometers away! I counted 7 this time.
Headed back towards town & had time on my side,so I dropped in to visit Rob in Gunner Inlet for awhile. He lives on a floathouse with three friendly cats.
I’ve always wanted to live like that myself! A floathouse would be the cats meow!
Said goodbye & continued on towards town. Stopped at Tsapee Narrows to visit with the Daredevil & Delilah. They both came over to say hi. I noticed the sunshine was on the verge of being snuffed for the night! Some extensive high cloud was moving in,so I got some shots of them doing their thing while I could!
Once the light went I said goodbye but the Daredevil flew over to me first as if to say “don’t leave”! I explained I had to to & would be back tomorrow. He flew back to his attack perch & just looked at me.
Conditioned west into town. I fueled up at the Marina first & than went over to Deadman Island to visit with Romeo & Juliette. I could only find Romeo around! I realized that Juliette was hidden from my view & was over on the mud flats chowing down on a fish. The sun by this time had been completely consumed but the cloud was translucent enough to allow some nice partial light through! I could only shot Romeo as a silhouette! He didn’t seem to mind.
I noticed several fishing boats coming in from the days work. I think it might of been Geoduck ( large bivalve)?
I got a few shots of Romeo playing in front of the “Georgia Prince”!
Called it a night & headed back in after saying goodnight to my friend Romeo.
I bet he had been wondering were I was all this time? It was really good to see my friend again!
This was my first shoot of the year & it couldn’t of been better! ( aside from no Orca’s or wolves of course!)
It was like coming back to Eden!