Spirit of British Columbia

[Koastal Karl]

Oh man I cant wait till she comes back so I can get a trip on her and see what they have done. I really wish she was returning to service tommorrow cause I had planned on going to Van. Now I am going to have to wait till next Tuesday

[Balfour]

Take some good pics, especially of her interior.

[Sandi]

and the car decks!

[Koastal Karl]

Well I will have have to see how busy it is when I do end up going. I dont like taking photos when it's crowded! It's much better on less busy sailing for photos. I might be able to get a few though.

[NMcKay]

no fair. it'll be months before i find a reason to make the trip south.

[Koastal Karl]

I will see what I can get for you guys! Hopefully I can get some good photos next week.

[Koastal Karl]

I have an urge to go on the New West and Alberni, but I dont want to wait 3 hours in Tsawwassen to change ships. Damn it, why couldent Tsawwassen be like Horseshoe Bay Waiting 3 hours in Tsawwassen would be boring, it's bad enough when you have to wait 1 hr and a half. Darn it, Tuesday is my last day free until next Monday. oh well, I am definately going on the SOBC next Tuesday!

[Curtis]

Yeah it would be soooooo boring waiting at Tsawwassen plus the Tsawwassen Quay is closed they should open a restaurant at Tsawwassen so if you have to wait for a ship for a hour the time goes by quickly unless you go for a drive around the city area instead if you have a car

[Balfour]

I think they have that Mondo Catering trailer thing there right now While the new facility is being installed. I think the New facility is going to be provided by the Lonsdale Quay Market or something.

[Koastal Karl]

I guess it's better if you actually take a day trip to Vancouver and come back or go over Duke Point, or go roundtrip and stay oboard and come back but again that is a long roundtrip to do.

[Balfour]

If you're going to do a day trip to Vancouver, Take Route 1 in the morning, to avoid Vancouver Rush Hour (I really don't know how some people got their liscences in the first place, and our roads are a joke), and on your way back, take route 2 and drive down the Malahat, it's a beautiful drive.

My dad, my brother and myself did it once around 10 years ago when we were going to visit my Aunt and Uncle who lived in Saanich at the time. There were accidents at every point on the way to Tsawassen (Lions Gate, IronWorkers Memorial, Massey Tunnel, Oak Street. Yes there was one on all of these crossings!) So we decided to catch a C class over to Nanaimo (I don't remember which ferry I was on exactly, I was too young) and then drive down the Island.

[Koastal Karl]

Well sometimes, what I have done before is driven up to Duke Point gone across on the 1015 and then come back on the 7pm sailing. Or I might one day take the 9am and then come back on the 545 to Duke Point. Going to Horseshoe Bay in the evening could be a pain as it would be rush hour but going over to Horseshoe Bay then coming back Tsawwassen might be neat. I have gone one route before and come back another route the odd time. Although it's hard to get a New West sailing coming from the island doing a day trip. She sails to early from Duke Point and too late in the day, the same from Tsawwassen. Maybe in the summer or when we do the Queen of the North trip we might go back to Duke Point on the New West or something.

[Dane]

The Lounge... Ims o curious. Im out of school on the 18th and I'm doing some work on the Island in Qualicum Beach but I think I'll take a long detour to see it.

[NMcKay]

people want to move in at tswassen. but BCF has a c ontract with lonsdale, to have the quay there by 2008

[Koastal Karl]

She is at Tsawwassen in berth 3 right now, or maybe it's berth 4, but I heard that from my aunt who works at Tsawwassen who just go off a tour of the new SOBC. More media is going to be there tommorrow for tours I think then she is doing sea trials and will be back in service on Thursday. Darn I should of did the round trip to Tsawwassen this afternoon and I could of seen her. I was thinking about it cause I had a feeling she might be there. Wish I could of been on the tour too! I think it was just BC Ferries employees!

[Curtis]

So she's ready to work thats great

[Curtis]

Another thing I don't think RBI is 100% correct

[Ian]

She is back in service on thursday, yaaa, and i am going on her.

[Koastal Karl]

ahh, lucky you! I have to work the next five days so I wont get on her till next Monday or Tuesday, probably Tuesday as Monday is Easter Monday. Easter is early this year. I really want to go on her before that!

[Koastal Karl]

They are having special customer appreciation events on the 9am from Swartz Bay and the 11am from Tsawwassen tommorrow. Damn it, I wish I could be on those sailings. I just cant wait to go on her!

[Koastal Karl]

Also the Queen of Esquimalt is on the Departure Bay run as an extra Thursday and through out the Easter Weekend. The Bowen Queen is doing a few sailings this weekend on the Langdale run, although she isent listed yet on the RBI, according to the service notice. She takes 55 mins to do the run from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale and there will be no snack bar. They can use the snack bar on the Bowen Island run when she fills is but you think they could use it on a longer run, nope!

[Koastal Karl]

My aunt was actually suppose to have like a lunch thingy onboard the SOBC today along with other employees, but they never did as the ship was out till 2:30 doing sea trials.

[kylefossett]

no snack bar on the bowen queen this weekend might be because they are not fully crewing her. not enough crew to look after smaller stuff like a snack bar

[queenofthenorth]

I heard the Bowen Queen a couple hours ago making its call at Cape Roger Curtis heading to Langdale, she should be there by now.

[Koastal Karl]

as of 5pm I saw there was a 3 sailing wait from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and a 2 sailing wait from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen. Gonna be busy this weekend.