The night before our planned adventure, we checked the forecast and it was calling for fog on the west coast of Vancouver Island for most of the day. We quickly went to our back up plan of flying to Texada Island, and because of this change, I was able to take the Jodel.
Texada Island is a 50 mile long island located up the sunshine
coast, just off shore from Half Moon Bay near the south end, and Powell River abeam
the north end. Near the north end of the island is a nicely appointed airport
called Texada/Gillies Bay (CYGB). It boasts a 3000' paved runway, a little terminal building,
and loads of transient and overnight airplane parking. 20 minutes down the road
from the airport is the town of Gillies Bay, but that was not our destination
for this trip. Our destination was the fabled beach just a short hike from the
airport. I've been to Texada twice before, but I never had enough time to find
the beach. This time I would finally be seeing it.
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| Photo: Sharon Toorenburgh |
The plan was to be wheels up out of Delta Airpark and King
George Airpark at 10:00am. Since I would now be bringing the Jodel, I would have an
empty seat, so I filled it with my sister, Tessa. I hadn't taken her flying in
ages, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to take her up and have her meet all my flying buddies! David B
would be flying co-pilotless, but taking food and equipment in the Tornado. Jen
B would be riding along with James in the S-6 Coyote, Greg (Stumpy) and Heidi
would be in the Technaam, and Sharon and Darrell would be joining us in their
Eurofox.
As it happened, Tessa and I got the Jodel prepped, got our transponder
code from Kamloops FIC, and were ready to go before the rest of our airborne
armada over at King George.
After getting airborne, we decided to fly over to
King George to do a low pass of the field to check on the progress of our
friends. As we crossed midfield we could see the airplanes just starting to be
pulled out of their hangar bays.
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| Photo: Jen Bianchi |
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| Photo: Jen Bianchi |
After our "hurry up" call, we continued northbound
to Burnaby Lake, through Vancouver Harbour, up the sunshine coast, and once
we hit the south end of Texada Island, we cruised up the west coast of the
island to Gillies Bay Airport, crossed midfield and joined the circuit for
Runway 32.
We taxied into the apron and noticed a taxiway leading
to a large grass tie-down area. After we parked the Jodel we waited for our
friends to arrive. While doing so, we bumped into Barry from the Texada
Aerospace Camp, who showed us their mobile simulator called the "Airbuzz
Mk II." Barry's group runs a youth
aerospace camp every summer at the Texada Airport. The dates for the 2015 camp are July 15-18.
Eventually our friends showed up. In all, 5 airplanes, 9 people, some food, and an empty bucket.
With all the planes parked in the grass, we led the crew to
the Texada Aerospace Camp hangar to show them what Tessa and I had discovered
just moments before.
There was only one problem with doing this, and it has to
do with how pilots easily lose track of time when they play with aviation related
thingies. Another gentleman involved with the aerospace program, Doby, led our group through a
tour of their operation. He explained that the simulator is mounted on a
trailer that allows them to take it to parades, community events, and schools.
What made this tour better was that Doby started up the simulator and let some
of us have a try at it. The simulator ran on X-Plane software, and a brilliant woman
named Sandra scratch built the control systems including actual instrumentation,
dual control columns, rudder pedals, flap levers, and a multi-engine throttle
quadrant.
David B and Heidi each took turns "flying" it, and about an
hour later we were finally leaving the airport on our way to the beach.
More information about the Texada Aerospace Camp can be
found at http://texada.org/events/texada-aerospace-camp-2015/
Luckily, we still had plenty of time to find the beach. Out
of the airport gate we finally went. We followed the road to the left, then took another
left at the trail just before the road barrier.
Down a beautiful treed trail we
went, curving back and forth under a constant canopy of trees that kept us cool
during our walk under the hot sun. After an easy 30 minute hike we arrived at
our own private beach.
The beach was phenomenal. As we set up our camp for the day
we noticed that we were sharing the beach with a beautiful bald eagle.
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| Photo: Sharon Toorenburgh |
It was
perched on a rock looking out over the strait, much like we were. The tide was
out and the rocky beach extended out into mud flats. almost immediately Heidi
and Greg headed out towards the shoreline with the bucket David B. brought.
I
joined them soon after and helped them in their search for fresh west coast oysters.
The search was easy because there were oysters practically everywhere. I grabbed a single
oyster and decided I was going figure out how to get it open.
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| Photo: Sharon Toorenburgh |
At fancy oyster bars downtown they use special tools to shuck (open)
oysters, but on the beach at Texada we had nothing of the sort, so I was forced
to improvise. I came up with a technique where I used one small rock as a
makeshift chisel, and a second, larger rock, as a hammer. It worked like a
charm and we soon started enjoying ultra fresh oysters.
David B made a fire and
started roasting wieners over it for him and Jen. The fire was also used for
cooking up loads of oysters for those who didn't like it raw.
After practically everyone had a chance to enjoy at least
one oyster, we had a moment of perfect hindsight. We wondered whether the area
we were in was under the influence of red tide, or any other seaborne bacteria
that could cause us serious food poisoning. Hmmm... Good question. David B
looked it up on his smart phone and thankfully we learned that we would all be
fine. The oyster feast continued.
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| Photo: Sharon Toorenburgh |
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| Photo: Sharon Toorenburgh |
Then an amazing thing happened. Darrell, as he was eating an
oyster, felt something hard in his mouth. He pulled it out and to our
amazement, it was a little PEARL! Sure it was small, but it was a real pearl!
The odds of finding a pearl in a wild oyster are very slim. In fact, the odds are about 1 in 12,000, which is about a 0.00008%
chance.
As it turned out, it was Heidi's birthday that day, so
Darrell happily gave the little pearl to Heidi as a birthday gift. The fact
that it was Heidi's birthday was a surprise to us all. Had we known sooner, we
would have planned something for her, but it was really nice to hear Heidi say
that just joining us on our trip to Texada was an excellent way to spend her
birthday. Happy Birthday Heidi!
With our tummies full, a few of us started to explore the
beach a little further. There was a massive tidal pool that was full of sea
life. There were countless little fish, many different species of crabs, sand
dollars, and even a few starfish.
Sharon and Tessa also set out to find the next additions to
their home rock collections, and they came back with more than enough to put an
airplane over gross. Because of this, they had to make the tough decision of
which to bring home with them, and which to leave behind.
With everyone satisfied with the way the day went, it was time to head back to the
planes. For the sake of exploring, we took the alternate route back to the
airport.
The way back led us more directly to the airport and popped us out of
the forest into a field of daisies right beside the runway.
Remaining clear of
the runway, we walked back to our planes, packed up our things, called Kamloops
for squawk codes, and prepared for departure.
Because of our limited range, David B and I both made a fuel
stop at Sechelt Airport while everyone else flew past us on their way home.
Once we had our tanks filled and we were airborne, it was past Kits Beach Pool, through Vancouver Harbour, then
straight back to King George and Delta Airpark for the two Davids.
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| Photo: Tessa McIntosh |
Because our group has gotten quite close, we never seem to
get tired of each other, so after we had all our planes put away, we met up at
our "regular" post-flying restaurant, the Big Ridge Brew Pub, for
dinner and drinks.
It was another truly amazing day. We all can't wait to go
back again. In fact, we're planning an over-night camping trip to Texada in August. Keep your eyes
on this blog for more information.
As usual, flying smart, fly safe, and have an excellent
summer!
