Vancouver, B.C., Canada / July 2015

Yes, I deliberately took this on an angle, although I just followed the roll of the plane. The bridge below is Burrard Street Bridge, which allows traffic through into the downtown area. The waterway underneath is what is commonly called – False Creek. Just to the right of the bridge is a seemingly round white building, that’s the Vancouver Planetarium. A little further up on the shoreline is the large Kitsilano outdoor pool (that’s appears as a turquoise oval).

Then further along is Jericho Beach (where my rugby club is) and even further up is the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the expansive Georgia Strait. Note the change of sea color to a light brown. It’s the fresh water outflow from the mighty Fraser River which carries fine silt and sand and empties it into the Pacific Ocean, hence the creation of deltas at its mouth. To the top right, is the entrance to Howe Sound and the commencement of the Sea to Sky Highway (leading to Whistler Mountain). If you continued straight up, you’d be on the Sunshine Coast.

Those little white specs are power and sail boats, with the larger ones being freighters anchored in English Bay, waiting their turn in harour to unload overseas cargo. Vancouver, after all, is a major port to the orient and stops anywhere in the Pacific Ocean. All those high rises on the right hand side, is an area called the West End, which is deemed to be one of densest residential areas in the world.

Louise, our friend – Sunday (from San Miguel), and I ran into my good friend Chris Georgas on the ferry to the Sunshine Coast. Within two hours we were in his Cessna 4 seater plane, and then another fifteen minutes later, we were buzzing over top of downtown Vancouver. To think things are that close is amazing but that’s the joy of flying… from Chris’s hanger and landing strip in Sechelt, to over top of downtown Vancouver in minutes, is the reality of flying.

Amazing day when anything and everything came together for an unexpected sightseeing flight. Also see photo 13) ‘Rocky Mountain High’ that was taken from the same excursion.