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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 26, 2017 16:55:09 GMT -8
What's it there for? Seems odd to have an out of service ferry taking up a berth at a busy terminal in the peak of summer - so there's got to be something going on. Today they did a "test run" of bunkering LNG, and I'm told tomorrow they will be doing a real LNG bunkering and then she should be leaving here on Friday morning. I don't know why the LNG bunkering had to be done here vs doing it in Tsawwassen. My only thought is that maybe they also wanted an opportunity to be here to load up a bunch of stores stuff for the cafeteria and gift shop and figured out a way to do both.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 26, 2017 8:38:31 GMT -8
A couple pictures of the Raven pulling into berth 4. I still don't know why she is there but I do know we are expecting to have it there for at least a couple of days. I'll do some more digging today and see if I can find someone who knows why she is at Swartz Bay. Salish Raven by Samtomkinss, on Flickr Salish Raven by Samtomkinss, on Flickr
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 25, 2017 15:43:30 GMT -8
Apperently the Raven is going to be tied up in berth 4 here at Swartz Bay for a few days. It got here about an hour go and offloaded a few cars, but I believe they were all employee vehicles (ie. not a soft sailing). I'm not sure why it's here but I'll post a couple pictures when I get home from work.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 9, 2017 14:43:34 GMT -8
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 6, 2017 9:49:58 GMT -8
This is my first time posting an entry to a flagship thread, so I apologize if I screwed up the links or sizing. I did read over the "Posting photos to WCFF" thread and I'm pretty sure I did it right but please correct me if it isn't so I can fix it! Compare mine or Scott's full-size result to yours. The difference is that it needs to be on a clean screen, without any Flickr page items showing. Here's what the full size code looks like: (so that you can see it, I've replaced the [ square bracket items with words.) full size (square bracket open here)a href="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4240/35556633902_c60503d9a3_b.jpg"]HERE(square bracket close here) So that it links to the correct size, choose the "BBcode" cut/paste source, and make sure that the size filter is switched to "original" for your cropped 1200x340 sized shot. Ahhh, I see where I went wrong. It is fixed now, thanks for your help!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 5, 2017 22:09:14 GMT -8
Two entries from me for now. Haven't picked a third yet. Link to full size Link to full size This is my first time posting an entry to a flagship thread, so I apologize if I screwed up the links or sizing. I did read over the "Posting photos to WCFF" thread and I'm pretty sure I did it right but please correct me if it isn't so I can fix it!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 3, 2017 9:26:12 GMT -8
QoNW almost always uses berth 2 at Swartz Bay. Only exception is when the Coastal is tied up in berth 2. I believe the main reason is due to noise complaints by Lands End road residents. The New West has some very loud fans used operating when its in the dock.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jul 2, 2017 17:10:51 GMT -8
Couple of photos of the Queen of Nanaimo that I qucikly snapped today at work. I thought I'd share since this the first time the Nanny has been at SWB in a long time. With the new SGI schedule it looks like she will be visiting us at Swartz every Sunday at 12:20 though! Queen of Nanaimo just after pulling in to berth 2 at Swartz Bay QoN after discharging traffic. And QoN departing berth 2 for Long Harbour, SSI. The Nanny left Swartz nearly empty, with a load of just 5 underheights. I expect the main purpose of her Sunday visits to SWB is to make up for the loss in Route 5/5A capacity due to the Sunday DG sailings and not to transport SWB to Long Harbour traffic. But it will be interesting to see if the traffic on this run (I wonder if I should be calling it route 5 or route 9...) picks up in the summer. EDIT: I should also point out that the Nanny was about 40 minutes delayed from her scheduled 12:30 departure today and there were about a dozen or so vehicles who were in the Long Harbour lanes but opted for the 1 o'clock sailing on the Skeena to Fulford when they found out the Nanaimo was late.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 28, 2017 14:15:22 GMT -8
Bowen Queen is tied up at Fulford right now. Good to know there is a backup available nearby if the Nanny's return happens to get delayed beyond Friday.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 26, 2017 10:37:30 GMT -8
marinetraffic and vesselfinder both show the Inspiration hanging around halfway between the island and the mainland just north of route 2. Looks like it must be out doing sea trials or something, she seems to be doing lots of changing direction and speeds. Hopefully getting ready to return to service soon. It seems like Langdale is in desperate need of their second boat, especially with the long weekend coming up
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 26, 2017 10:10:12 GMT -8
They must be praying like hell that they can get her back in service by this weekend (or maybe get the Bowen Queen down here and ready to go). Thursday and Friday of this past weekend were crazy for SWB to SGI and SSI with all the extra thrufares. After her 9pm departure to Salt Spring on Thursday the Skeena Queen had to come back to Swartz and pickup a load of cars and make an extra trip out to the outer Gulf Islands. I can only imagine how much crazier the coming long weekend will be if the Nanny isn't back.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 7, 2017 20:29:27 GMT -8
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 6, 2017 11:44:31 GMT -8
Is that a gallery deck I'm seeing hidden on the inside edge of the second rendering? Interesting to see a design with a gallery deck on only one side like that (if it is in fact a gallery deck).
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 1, 2017 19:20:38 GMT -8
I'm wondering how common this is. Yesterday on the 5:45pm Queen of Alberni sailing from Duke Point, at least two vehicles were turned back after boarding the upper deck, after crew determined, using a measuring pole, that they were too tall. One of the vehicles barely made the sailing, as the lower cardeck was just about fully loaded. Isn't it up to the cashier in the tollbooth to figure out if a vehicle is overheight? And how difficult could it be to install an overhead gauge, adjustable to the upper car deck of the next ferry, to sort vehicles before they board the wrong deck? I don't know much about Duke Point as I have only travelled through there once but I'm sure the loading procedures there are similar to Swartz Bay and the other major terminals. At Swartz Bay when a vehicle arrives at the terminal it is processed and given a lane assignment by the ticket agent. 99% of the time the overheights are put in an overheight lane and the underheights in an underheight lane. But of course the ticket agents make mistakes occasionally. Understandably it is difficult to tell from the inside the booth if a big pickup truck or an SUV with a rack is too tall or not, and getting out to measure is time consuming which causes issues when its busy (especially when on the verge of an overload). So sometimes overheight vehicles end up in the underheight lanes. If the vehicle is in the holding lanes long enough usually the tower will notice and send someone from the terminal to measure it, and the vehicle can be moved (or a lot of the time it is measured and confirmed underheight and nothing happens) or the tower can tell the loader to direct the vehicle to the main deck during loading. The tower is pretty dilligent about this, and I would guess around a dozen vehicles get checked every day. Most of the time they aren't too tall, maybe once every few days a vehicle actually needs to get moved. When the vehicles are loading the underheight loader (the employee directing cars to the upper deck) should also be on the lookout for questionable vehicles. If the loader thinks the vehicle might be too tall he will direct it to the main deck. The frequency of this depends on the loader, some of the more precautions ones will send half a dozen or more per sailing, others might send only one or two, or none. If the UH loader misses something tall, Swartz Bay has a bar hanging at the start of the transfer deck (similar to what you would find at the entrance to an underground parking lot) which is a little lower than the clearance of the top deck on the Spirits (the Spirits are used as a limit case because the clearance on the QoNW and the Coastals is a bit taller). If a vehicle hits this bar the driver usually clues in and turns around, otherwise the UH loader can radio the upper ramp attendant who can turn the vehicle around before the ramp (so the vehicle doesn't have to reverse). This is quite rare, I expect it happens at most a handful of times a month. The last person who might notice an overheight vehicle before it gets on the ship would be the upper ramp attendant, although by the time the vehicle is on the upper ramp it is a very difficult process to back it up. This happens extremely rarely (at Swartz Bay). With all of this it amazes me that an overheight vehicle could ever make it on to the ship, but I know it has happened at SWB before, and clearly it happens at DUK... I guess a lot of the problem is due to a mentality of "the guy before me saw it and decided it was fine so I guess its fine"
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 31, 2017 11:25:24 GMT -8
I saw the V2V Empress in service for the first time yesterday. This was taken from the Coastal Celebration on the way to Swartz Bay (I believe that is Moresby Island in the background). I was surprised by how small it is. I've only ever seen it docked in the inner harbour, so seeing it from the CCel really put it into perspective. I'm curious to see how V2V does this summer, it's going to be an interesting one to watch.
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 16, 2017 10:56:18 GMT -8
Well, it's a nice ship and all, but it's halfway through the sailing to Westview and I already can't stand the automatic doors to access the sundeck. I have a feeling they won't last long the way they are, especially for the Eagle and Raven doing SGI in the summer. Aside from the doors the layout of the ship seems okay overall, the cafeteria area (not the seating part but the actual ordering food part) seems a bit small but that might just be because I'm used to Route 1 and 2 vessels lately. One final note from the huge nerd hidden inside me; garage decks are very cool!! I'm curious to see how effective/efficient they end up being as compared to the platforms on the Burnaby/Nanny. Time will tell I suppose! Well you do win 'keener of the year' for your extra effort to be on the official inaugural run of the Salish Orca. Don't suppose BC Ferries gave the inaugural trip passengers any kind of 'memento' on this special day? No memento for me today they were giving away ferry vouchers by random draw though, and there was a couple of Chek news guys on board filming so maybe I'll end up on TV!!
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 16, 2017 6:29:58 GMT -8
Well, it's a nice ship and all, but it's halfway through the sailing to Westview and I already can't stand the automatic doors to access the sundeck. I have a feeling they won't last long the way they are, especially for the Eagle and Raven doing SGI in the summer.
Aside from the doors the layout of the ship seems okay overall, the cafeteria area (not the seating part but the actual ordering food part) seems a bit small but that might just be because I'm used to Route 1 and 2 vessels lately.
One final note from the huge nerd hidden inside me; garage decks are very cool!! I'm curious to see how effective/efficient they end up being as compared to the platforms on the Burnaby/Nanny. Time will tell I suppose!
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Post by futureferrydriver on May 16, 2017 0:32:53 GMT -8
Well, it's 1:30am and I'm currently sitting outside the Little River ticket booth in my car waiting for the Orca's "maiden" voyage. I feel like quite the keener!!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Apr 6, 2017 8:54:21 GMT -8
Looks like SoVI is returning to service a day early! Current conditons pages shows her as the vessel for the 11:00 sailing out of Swartz Bay today. Just in time too, it apperently the CRen is having some mechanical issues of her own now. www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=1025647
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 24, 2017 15:13:37 GMT -8
AIS tells me that Spirit of VI is maybe not doing well? She did a few laps in Saanich Inlet and took the long way to TSA. Any idea as she was just refit Service notice says she's having issues with "the hydraulic control of the port pitch propeller." Looks like they're still troubleshooting at this point as she is expected to be out of service all weekend. www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=1022532
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 19, 2017 19:15:12 GMT -8
Can anyone confirm or deny the Salish Eagles destination? If she will be docking anywhere in Victoria I might have to try and fit in a "Eagle spotting" adventure tomorrow.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Mar 15, 2017 7:50:34 GMT -8
Very interesting. I'm curious as to what the design will be. They've already got a pretty good template for a 100-car "shuttle-style" ferry with Skeena Queen. My initial preconception is this could be similar in design to the Century Class design with accommodations for LNG, or perhaps an expanded version of the Minor-44 class. The article mentions building "several" of these. It's too early to say how many, but I can see Routes 4, 6, 19, and 23 getting this class, ultimately retiring Quinitsa and Quinsam, and possibly making Skeena Queen a relief vessel. Granted, I'm talking quite a few years out here. Although, my personal belief is that Route 4 should get a vessel with a proper above-deck passenger cabin, something along the lines of Island Sky. How is it that Bowen Island, a 20 minute crossing, rates an I-Class vessel with a real passenger cabin, and Saltspring gets a "shuttle" ferry with meager car-deck passenger lounges (Skeena Queen) for a 35 minute crossing? I'm not knocking Skeena Queen. It's a fine ferry, but I AM suggesting the length of the Fulford Harbour-Swartz Bay run warrants a vessel with better passenger accommodations. I'm not sure about Saltspring, but I know that Bowen has a lot of foot traffic. Especially during the school year when there is a large number of of student "commuters." My guess would be that the large majority of them are walk ons, and I can see there being safety issues (as well as parents complaining) if all these kids were running around on the car deck. This might be a factor as to why Bowen gets better passenger accommodations.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Feb 23, 2017 14:14:16 GMT -8
I'm going to put my guess in as April 4th for the arrival date of the Eagle. What a nice way it would be to celebrate my last day of classes with the arrival of another lovely new ferry!
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Post by futureferrydriver on Feb 1, 2017 15:00:30 GMT -8
I have three Experience Cards. Two have trivial balances and I want to merge them into my main card. The FAQ site doesn't address how to do this (or at least in a way I figured out) when the two cards aren't "secondary". Do I just call in? I feel like my $13.20 is being held hostage haha. Sure fire way is to go to customer service at one of the terminals, I've done this before at HSB last year and can verify it works and takes like 2 minutes. That said, I can't imagine any reason they wouldn't be able to do it over the phone, so I would try calling first. Worst case scenario they tell you to go to a terminal. Side note: How great would it be if they could just do it at the vehicle/foot toll booths. I know it would probably be a disaster near cut offs for Route 3 out of HSB but I can't really see it being a huge problem for any other Experience Card routes.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Jan 28, 2017 19:45:38 GMT -8
Fourth time through Tsawwassen since the Orca got there and I finally got to see her in the daylight!! Here is a couple more shots I took earlier this evening. I don't foresee any more trips through TSA in the near future so this might be my last encounter with her until she enters service (which I will undoubtedly be driving up to Comox for), can't wait! Same one as last night but thought I might as well post a daylight version. As seen from the departing Coastal Celebration at 5pm this evening. Last one I got before my camera died.
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