Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 14, 2024 17:19:58 GMT -8
I don't think Marine Atlantic owned Atlantic Vision... I believe they were leasing her, but maybe someone could correct me on that. The newly leased vessel, Ala'suinu, is the same length as the ' Vision, so probably not much more capacity. She's a nice looking ship, and more environmentally friendly in terms of propulsion. Atlantic Vision is only 22 years old. Marine Atlantic obviously hasn't learned from their ferry operating cousins in Washington, BC, and Alaska, that you're supposed to stick with the same ancient vessels until the rivets are shuddering out of the steel. (Yes, kids, I know that hulls aren't riveted anymore... it's a joke.) I wonder if there are advantages to leasing a vessel as opposed to owning... Marine Atlantic says that at the end of the five years, if the vessel isn't working out, they'll go with something else. Doesn't sound like a bad idea. For anyone musing about where the Atlantic Vision might fit into in our system, it would only be the north coast, given all her cabins. She's a lot bigger than the NorEx... 203 metres long, compared to 152. I'll be interested to see where she ends up. Bit too expensive and too nice for George Goundar's blood, I think.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 12, 2024 20:34:06 GMT -8
I may have missed something, but I did do some research on this forum into this question, and I just can't quite figure it out.
Did Kelsey Bay have two berths for loading and unloading vessels, or was there one functional berth, and one layover berth? We had the Queen of Prince Rupert serving the route to Prince Rupert, and the Island Princess serving the Beaver Cove- Alert Bay- Sointula run.
'Low Light Mike' refers to a second berth on one of his photo trips, but I'm not clear on the nature of that berth.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 12, 2024 17:27:16 GMT -8
Queen of Burnaby is on the move again... looks like she's heading into Snug Cove, but Marine Traffic has her heading for Deas, at 5.1 knots. 'paulvanb', you're always chronicling the Bowen area... hope you're in the area right now to get this rare shot...
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 10, 2024 20:26:01 GMT -8
About 2 weeks ago I had the chance to ride WSF, MV Coho and BCF all in the same day. With that I also had to chance to have ferry food from all of them. Started off on WSF onboard the MV Tacoma. I got a Chorizo Breakfast Burrito and a Vanilla Late drink. This came to $15.71 US which is absolutely insane. To put that into comparison, you can get a pirate pack for like $13 CAD. The burrito was actually pretty decent in my opinion but not worth like $8 US. Next onboard the MV Coho I got a soft serve ice cream and hot dog. This time ended up coming to $8.50 US although not as bad as the price I paid on WSF, thats still pretty bad. The ice cream and hot dog were only alright too. You would be getting a much better deal at Costco or IKEA to say the least. Last but definitely not least on BCF I got a BC Chicken Burger combo (which I got with Caesar Salad) and that came to about $19.30 CAD. While this was in theory the most expensive, it was definitely the best and felt like the least of a rip off. That day I realized that while I have found BCF ferry food to be pretty overpriced a lot of the time, at least it isn't as bad as the MV Coho or WSF. The food on WSF vessels hasn't been great for a long time now. I miss the old days (think 70's and early to mid 80's) when they still had grills in the galleys and you could get actual food. When I was a kid, I remember getting cooked breakfasts on the ferries. It hasn't been that way for many years now, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I purchased any food items on one of our ferries. Same with Coho. I don't think I've ever gotten anything from their galley. It's nice to see BC Ferries still has some good food choices. You also have to take into account that you're comparing three different types of operation. With BC Ferries, you've got a highly subsidized system with a cafeteria staffed with ferry employees. With WSF, you've got a similarly subsidized operating model, but the food services are contracted out. With Black Ball, there is no government subsidy, and they are also bringing in food from suppliers. Pretty hard to fairly compare what customers are offered. Last time I was on a WSF vessel in the San Juans, they had stuff that was about equivalent to what you see that's been sitting in a warming oven at Seven Eleven for four hours... on the other hand, my car and driver ticket was dirt cheap, by BC standards.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 6, 2024 22:20:32 GMT -8
Spuhel arriving and departing Vancouver, March 5 2024.
I have to say that the second shot isn't quite on the scale of those photos of the grand old CPR Princesses and Empresses passing under the Lions Gate Bridge, but, Ollie... there's nothing your excellent composition could do to change that.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Mar 5, 2024 22:24:15 GMT -8
It would be helpful to know why they are doing this. I gather the Spirit of Vancouver Island will be late returning from its annual refit. They've done it before... I imagine it's fairly cheap given that the Salish vessels have a crew complement well below twenty. This route is the heaviest in the system for foot passengers, so I hope they don't load the vessel to it's full limit of 600... I doubt very much that they actually have seating for that many.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 27, 2024 15:37:46 GMT -8
I think this is a pretty nice design, for double enders. Someone said there was some Salish class in them, but I don't see that at all; the Salish class is too tall for their length... they look ridiculously top heavy when you look at them end on.
This design is nicely proportioned, and the angled stepback of the passenger decks is sleek. Much better looking than the Coastals, particularly with the wheelhouse returned to it's proper location, on the top deck. And three decks will allow BC Ferries to easily cordon off areas not needed on light passenger sailings.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 26, 2024 18:07:59 GMT -8
A bit off topic perhaps: When I read "new major vessels will carry up to 360 standard sized vehicles" I thought that's unfortunate as, for example, the Queen of Surrey's capacity is 362 so there's no improvement in capacity. However the current BC Ferries website (https://www.bcferries.com/on-the-ferry/our-fleet/queen-of-surrey/QSUR) lists the Queen of Surrey at "Car capacity 311" Pulling up the Wayback machine from ~2000 (https://web.archive.org/web/19991117122338/http://www.bcferries.com/fleet/profile-queen_of_surrey.html) it shows a capacity of 362. They no longer load the area adjacent to the internal intra-deck ramp system but surely that's not a 51 car capacity reduction...At some point did they redefine capacity based on today's larger vehicles? Or is this ferry shrinkflation? At some point in recent years, BC Ferries changed the AEQ size to 6 metres which drastically reduced listed capacity numbers. The Spirits, for example, used to have an aeq of 410 vehicles (w/o the platforms). Now, they are listed at 358 I think? Personally, I think the 6 metre standard is overestimating the average vehicle size, and I think the number of vehicles the boats actually carry are higher than what they list. Sure, there are some very large passenger vehicles out there, but there are also a lot of smaller vehicles, too. I don't know if you can still find it, but I clearly recall reading on one of their website pages several years ago that BC Ferries had recalculated capacities, and were now basing it on the size of a Ford F150. That helps with never overselling reservations, but it certainly underestimates the true passenger vehicle capacity on an average sailing.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 24, 2024 22:37:52 GMT -8
Nanaimo, the busy harbour ...
12 February 2024
Nanaimo has the most ferry terminals of any location on our coast. There's Departure Bay, the downtown terminals for Newcastle Island, Protection Island, Gabriola Island, Hullo, and the barge terminal on the old CPR property... and then there's Duke Point, and the Seaspan terminal south of there. Makes me wonder what the theoretical maximum might be for most ferries visible in one shot.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 23, 2024 22:34:10 GMT -8
Excellent reporting by the occasionally maligned (as too tough on WSF) Susannah Frame. Nearly a year ago, after the first report was released, I made some comments, here: ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/204491Among the things I noted is a total lack of discipline on the bridge - passing control from one bridge to the other leaving Vashon without a mate present, and on approach to Fauntleroy the quartermaster was doing everything but actually looking out the windows and monitoring the approach. In the linked article, you'll note that WSF has picked up on these issues and claim they have instituted " a new Bridge Resource Management policy that standardize pilot house operating standards fleet-wide." However, it is only in Frame's report today that we hear this Captain's work record really slid downhill the last two years of his career. WSF, facing an employee shortage, particularly of certified deck officers, seemed slow to respond to his performance issues in a meaningful way. She describes an incident where he was standing on the Southworth dock while his ship was sailing, with only a chief mate on board. He later falsified the ship's log to indicate that he was on board. Excuse me. What? "An internal review found Cole violated six codes of conduct including “abandoning his worksite,” “neglecting his duties,” and “falsification of documents.” ... The records disclosed to KING do not show any management action after the January 2020 incident: no reprimands, no suspensions, no disciplinary measures."(Frame uploaded the report, here: www.documentcloud.org/documents/24437303-10820-fact-finding-report)This is insane to me and speaks to deep cultural and management issues at WSF (I mean, we knew that already...) that need to be urgently addressed. 'northwesterner's suggestion that WSF could have downplayed this captain's deficiencies might be quite accurate, given the shortage of qualified mariners that many marine employers have faced over the last few years. This guy may have completed thousands of crossings without incident, but his record of transgressions should have been addressed by an employer fully invested in delivering a safe transit system to people travelling over water. Excellent reporting, and very unsettling.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 22, 2024 18:23:35 GMT -8
Blue Bus Fan: Often, when you post transit stories, you don't say where these operators are. That might help me and others determine whether we're interested in reading the news item. Thanks.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 21, 2024 21:06:26 GMT -8
BC Ferries service notice for a rudder issue on the Queen of New Westminster:
Looks like they're back to using ferry names on the service notices!
They monitor this site, and they heard you.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 21, 2024 17:45:58 GMT -8
I don't think anyone other than us ferry nerds is going to care. The travelling public doesn't pay attention to what ship is doing the 1pm departure from Tsawwassen, and on the one vessel routes, it really serves no purpose to put the vessel's name in. You're still getting the essentials on cancellations and revisions. For people doing round trips (not all of them are ferry nerds, believe it or not!), most people won’t even know their return sailing time and will just know their departure time and what ferry they are on. If the return sailing is cancelled, they might get stuck on the opposite side since they cannot read the service notice! I don't quite follow. If someone "cannot read the service notice", why does it matter if the ship name is in there or not? When a sailing is cancelled, say, due to mechanical issues, it's pretty much always stated if any subsequent sailings are in danger of cancellation, in either direction. I don't see that the minor shift in phrasing changes that. Maybe the service notice person who knows the vessel names is just on holidays right now.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 21, 2024 15:10:52 GMT -8
These are really bad changes, I want as much information as possible in my inbox but now their service notices aren’t very useful at all… I don't think anyone other than us ferry nerds is going to care. The travelling public doesn't pay attention to what ship is doing the 1pm departure from Tsawwassen, and on the one vessel routes, it really serves no purpose to put the vessel's name in. You're still getting the essentials on cancellations and revisions.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 18, 2024 16:16:12 GMT -8
I think they're just not running the 930pm where there is an 1130pm Vancouver departure? Now that you mention it, I see an asterisk beside the 9:30 pm sailing... that's not explained on the schedule page, but I guess when you go to book, you'll see that the departure is changed for the particular event date.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 17, 2024 21:29:34 GMT -8
Unless I'm missing something, every time Hullo does a late sailing from Vancouver after a concert or sporting match, there's no earlier departure on the schedule from Nanaimo. So, they're deadheading across the strait, with zero revenue. I guess time will tell if that's a viable venture.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 16, 2024 18:47:57 GMT -8
BC Ferries videos on the new major route vessels:
Hmmh... that yellow hull and bulwarks is going to take some getting used to...
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 15, 2024 22:00:14 GMT -8
Has BC Ferries set a new record for elevator incompetence with the ongoing issue on the Malaspina Sky? I think we're at about the two month mark where passengers with less than 100% mobility are stuck on the car deck. This is a fairly major vessel on an essential 45 minute crossing, and a vulnerable portion of the passengers can't access lounge seating, or food services.
Ridiculous.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 14, 2024 21:34:29 GMT -8
M/V Tillikum as seen through the center tunnel of the M/V Sealth at Vashon north end dock, 07/26/2014. M/V Tillikum by William Bryce, on Flickr When I think I'm tired of seeing the same sort of shots of the same ferries that we've been watching for decades... someone comes up with a really different perspective and different lighting... thank you!
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 12, 2024 22:35:45 GMT -8
Mike, if the Omineca Princess was decommissioned in '09, what has Waterbridge been doing when the 'Forester is out for refit?
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 10, 2024 20:31:25 GMT -8
Really like Mad Rona's, though. It's such a perfect name for a gulf island business. It took me a while to get the reference in the name, but I eventually figured it out. My sister loved that place (I usually go to Nester's Market, pretending to be hip. I need to learn the slow cafe way of life...) "Pretending to be hip"... do you ever feel like you succeed? Judging by the eyerolls from my girls, I think it gets to be more of an impossible challenge the more sweat stained our Tilleys get. We just wear our age, no matter how hard we struggle.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 10, 2024 18:54:08 GMT -8
Good grief. That plays on every twenty minute crossing to and from Gabriola? From what you suggested in one of your recent posts, there might be a lot more need for safety warnings for people venturing through downtown Nanaimo to get the ferry. Glad you lived to tell about it, Mike. Somehow we managed to survive... If I would have been in the spacious deck-2 indoor passenger lounge, I'd have been able to learn if there was a video-screen graphic to accompany the audio of the safety announcement. Perhaps some things are best kept a mystery. But in all seriousness, it was a good day for a trip with my sister to Gabriola. She is very much into beaches for the rocks and driftwood, and we had fun at both Descanso Bay Regional Park and Drumbeg Provincial Park. Drumbeg Park is on the southeast corner of Gabriola, across a narrow channel from the north tip of Valdes Island. There are views down the "Corridor" of outside islands, down the east coasts of Valdes, Galiano and with the mountains of Orcas Island in the far distance (and probably a view to Mt. Baker, on a non-cloud day). I'm so accustomed to Gabriola's north-west corner as a "Nanaimo-centric" view, and I forget that the opposite corner is the start of the southern Gulf Islands. In other spots on the south side of Gabriola Island, there are views down the sound that is between the outer islands (Valdes, Galiano) and the inner group of islands (Mudge, Link, DeCourcy, etc). For a map nerd like me, it's a fascinating place. One of my daughters lives in Courtenay, the other in Surrey, and me in White Rock. We alternate our meetups between the mainland and the Island. Leaving the car at Tsawwassen, we've met up at Duke Point and gone to Gabriola, Newcastle, Dodd Narrows (amazing) and a couple of times to Westwood Lake. Gabriola is nice, but unlike Hornby the vast majority of it is private, and exploring the parks there twice felt like enough. When I look at a map of Gabriola, the protected parkland and trail network is a bit underwhelming. Really like Mad Rona's, though. The island I really want to explore is Saturna. Seven hours there one day last August wasn't anywhere near enough.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 10, 2024 17:52:41 GMT -8
Here is a recent recording of the Safety Announcement on an Island Class vessel. This was heard on Island Kwigwis on a trip from Gabriola Island to Nanaimo on February 5, 2024. Good grief. That plays on every twenty minute crossing to and from Gabriola? From what you suggested in one of your recent posts, there might be a lot more need for safety warnings for people venturing through downtown Nanaimo to get the ferry. Glad you lived to tell about it, Mike.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 9, 2024 22:54:41 GMT -8
Apparently the Isabelle X will be hanging around in Nanaimo for another couple of months. Lots of opportunities for photos. It dwarfs any of our west coast ferries. ...and I love Ollie's photo of the Isabelle with the Rapid Bear. Amazing thing about tugs is that I bet if you gave that tiny tug a few minutes, she could probably start hauling that behemoth along at a couple of knots.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Feb 7, 2024 20:09:10 GMT -8
That's a nice looking ferry. It really is. I like the tapered lines of the upper bulwarks at the stern.
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