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Post by WettCoast on Sept 29, 2011 21:48:45 GMT -8
Little River? I'm pretty sure. you can see the beach wrapping around the point through her car deck tunnels. It is indeed Little River. Has it changed any in the last 39 years? Here is another shot from aboard the QotI later that same day. From the JST Flickr photo site ©
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Post by WettCoast on Oct 1, 2011 7:06:55 GMT -8
Here is another shot taken on the sun deck of the QotI, just aft of the wheelhouse. The yellow funnel indicates that she was operating as part of the BC Highways salt water fleet. 19 August 1972 From the JST Flickr photo site ©
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Post by chinook2 on Oct 3, 2011 12:40:34 GMT -8
For all her shortcomings, QofTI is a signifigant part of our marine heritage. She was a new build for a new route, and were it not for the SuzyQ joining the fleet would have held her place as primary ship on route 9 for several more years. I am very happy to see her enjoying a third life.
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Oct 3, 2011 19:43:54 GMT -8
:)very quickly in the evolution of the Gulf Islands service the Queen of the Islands became a missfit, but she indeed was a modern pioneer of the Long Hbr. route and I often think a rebuild as extensive as that given the little Island Princess, could have resulted in as long lasting a vessel as N.I.P. has proved to be. Many gulf islanders miss her passenger lounge and other qualities, but I think the Sidney and Tsawwassen were best suited for this route over time, and it was short sighted to retire the both! :)mrdot.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Oct 3, 2011 20:00:15 GMT -8
:)very quickly in the evolution of the Gulf Islands service the Queen of the Islands became a missfit, but she indeed was a modern pioneer of the Long Hbr. route and I often think a rebuild as extensive as that given the little Island Princess, could have resulted in as long lasting a vessel as N.I.P. has proved to be. Many gulf islanders miss her passenger lounge and other qualities, but I think the Sidney and Tsawwassen were best suited for this route over time, and it was short sighted to retire the both! :)mrdot. With all the praise for WAC Bennett and his vision for BC Ferries, it should probably be pointed out how quickly the vessels he built were rendered inadequate. Bowen Queen was replaced on the Bowen route after six years, Queen of The Islands was gone from route nine after just four, Comox Queen was too small after five or six, Powell River Queen was probably too small from the start... the list goes on. Queen of The Islands might be the most egregious example. It was supposed to serve four islands, as well as inter island, with no way for vehicles to turn around other than an impractical turntable, which apparently was removed early in its career. What were they thinking?
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Oct 3, 2011 20:26:14 GMT -8
:)WAC made many mistakes Niel, but I don't think his jumping on the old CCF nationalization policy for ferries or hydro were wrong for the times, and in fact he kind of stole the ideas from the party of my youth! He, and his mgmt. of the day goofed on some policys, but many of the vessels had very long lives, all of the mayne gueen trio and the 7 and 2 sisters, or my old QPR, had a pritty good run of it! In fact I can remember the orderbook at VMD was the envy of the fatherland's FSG boxboat yard, in those days! No, Niel, my dad couldn't stand the man, and I have changed my opinion over the years, but we can't dismiss the man either. :)mrdot.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Oct 3, 2011 20:39:01 GMT -8
:)WAC made many mistakes Niel, but I don't think his jumping on the old CCF nationalization policy for ferries or hydro were wrong for the times, and in fact he kind of stole the ideas from the party of my youth! He, and his mgmt. of the day goofed on some policys, but many of the vessels had very long lives, all of the mayne gueen trio and the 7 and 2 sisters, or my old QPR, had a pritty good run of it! In fact I can remember the orderbook at VMD was the envy of the fatherland's FSG boxboat yard, in those days! No, Niel, my dad couldn't stand the man, and I have changed my opinion over the years, but we can't dismiss the man either. :)mrdot. True... the vessels that were built had (and continue to have) a long run, and that's a testament to the quality work done by our shipyards. My point was more that there was very little foresight into the needs of the routes those vessels were built for. Some didn't last long in their original placements, other than the venerable Mayne Queen, which still shows little sign of being replaced on the run she's served since launching in 1965.
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Oct 3, 2011 21:05:48 GMT -8
:)continuing this thread a little bit further, the Queen of the Islands was the only vessel we went to the Montreal design firm of German and Milne and did not go to our established design source and it was a missfit in many ways, but overall the ferry policy of his day was sound, and route changes were fast in those days, do you know I worked a brand new QPR, and a nearly new Mayne Queen, Saanich, and slightly older Sidney, all VMD built by a very satisfied British Columbian, and will Cristy bring back the dogwood? :)mrdot.
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Post by Ferryman on Jan 20, 2012 0:17:53 GMT -8
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Post by WettCoast on Feb 9, 2012 16:02:15 GMT -8
Queen of the Islands & fish boats in Active Pass - 28 June 1980 photo © WCK/JST - Kodachrome - 80-8-9 Nikon-VueScan by Wett Coast, on FlickrThis was less than a year after the Queen of Alberni accident in the same locality. The presence of many fish boats was suggested as contributing to that incident in which the Alberni ran aground on nearby Collinson Reef.
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Feb 9, 2012 19:36:19 GMT -8
:)while this compact ferry was a misfit in the scheme of things, it sure gave passengers a good view of the pass, from it's observation lounge, and was a lot nicer ferry ride than todays costals! mrdot.
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Post by Scott on Feb 9, 2012 19:42:56 GMT -8
She had nice lines too. Looks a lot better than the Capilano or Island Sky or Skeena Queen. I know, these other ferries are more functional and probably better in most ways, but the Queen of the Islands looked a lot nicer:) When you look at her lines, you can sort of see how her design was probably inspired by the original Sidney and B-class ferries.
As an aside, does anyone know if it's illegal for fishing boats to sit in that area now?
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Feb 9, 2012 19:59:31 GMT -8
:)and I will always wonder if we couldn't have done a major cut and conversion job like we did on the diminuative island princess, what a majical catamirzation rework that was, and she still sails! :)mrdot.
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Post by Ferryman on Feb 9, 2012 23:08:33 GMT -8
She had nice lines too. Looks a lot better than the Capilano or Island Sky or Skeena Queen. I know, these other ferries are more functional and probably better in most ways, but the Queen of the Islands looked a lot nicer:) When you look at her lines, you can sort of see how her design was probably inspired by the original Sidney and B-class ferries. As an aside, does anyone know if it's illegal for fishing boats to sit in that area now? As far as I know, it's not illegal. In the summer time, there are still some days where there are vessels engaged in fishing off of Collinson or Helen Pt. Commercial fishing vessels also fish there too. However, they're usually all on the outside of the pass though.
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Post by lmtengs on Feb 10, 2012 17:21:11 GMT -8
She had nice lines too. Looks a lot better than the Capilano or Island Sky or Skeena Queen. I know, these other ferries are more functional and probably better in most ways, but the Queen of the Islands looked a lot nicer:) When you look at her lines, you can sort of see how her design was probably inspired by the original Sidney and B-class ferries. As an aside, does anyone know if it's illegal for fishing boats to sit in that area now? As far as I know, it's not illegal. In the summer time, there are still some days where there are vessels engaged in fishing off of Collinson or Helen Pt. Commercial fishing vessels also fish there too. However, they're usually all on the outside of the pass though. I wouldn't be surprised if the decline in fishing is due to overfishing in that spot... it's happened in other areas too.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Feb 19, 2012 17:12:59 GMT -8
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 15:04:02 GMT -8
August 12, 2012
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2012 15:45:33 GMT -8
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Post by princessofvanfan on Oct 20, 2012 23:29:07 GMT -8
Yes, it's good to see the Q.o.t.I. refurbished and ready for many more years of use. She served on the Swartz Bay-Fulford route when we lived on Saltspring briefly in 1978 and I remember the fabulous views afforded by her wraparound picture windows on her upper deck lounge. The bran muffins from the snack bar were always very fresh and tasty, too! I liked her very much...a neat, unique little ferry.
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Post by Scott (Former Account) on Feb 7, 2013 13:05:08 GMT -8
Here's a video taken aboard the Queen of the Islands back in 1964. However, the person who uploaded it has it mistakenly listed as the Queen of Nanaimo.
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Post by Ferryman on Mar 4, 2013 21:06:45 GMT -8
I've been curious to have a look at a ferry we haven't really thought about too much lately. So I did some research, and if you google "Celebration on Water", you can find all kinds of reviews regarding the wedding venue that the ex Queen of the Islands is now. I know a member had the opportunity to tour her not long after she was repositioned to North Van, however I managed to find some more recent photos of what she looks like inside today. Nothing much remains of her BC Ferries days to be honest, but it's a great retirement for an old Ferry that was retired at a younger age compared to the rest of the ferries of the fleet that were retired. I'll provide a link to a google image search. The main homepage for the Queen of the Islands triggered my anti virus software. However the review websites have a decent gallery of images to see. www.google.ca/search?q=celebration+on+water&hl=en&bav=on.2&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bX01UfLtGZHtqAHmoYCABA&biw=1366&bih=651&sei=cX01Uc3YFsSDqgHbk4GACg
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Post by paulvanb on Mar 5, 2013 20:15:02 GMT -8
She looks like she is enjoying a grand life in retirement. Wonder what they use the engine room for? Wine cellar?
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Post by Queen of Nanaimo Teen on Mar 6, 2013 14:57:19 GMT -8
I was looking through the previous posts in this thread, and found the link to that page on webshots (Where the interior photos were posted). Now that Webshots has gone 'Smile', is there anyway to see those old photos? Or are they gone forever?
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on May 1, 2013 18:03:34 GMT -8
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 4, 2013 13:39:36 GMT -8
Just bumping this thread to provide a little more info on one of this month's 'flagship' photos... Queen of the Islands & fish boats in Active Pass - 28 June 1980 photo © WCK/JST - Kodachrome - 80-8-9 Nikon-VueScan by Wett Coast, on FlickrThis was less than a year after the Queen of Alberni accident in the same locality. The presence of many fish boats was suggested as contributing to that incident in which the Alberni ran aground on nearby Collinson Reef. It is interesting to note that this shot was taken less than a year after the Queen of Alberni grounding accident on Collinson reef in Active Pass. Obviously, recreational fishing activity remained as an obstacle to navigation through the Pass in the summer of 1980. That was the summer that Swartz Bay-based route 1 vessels were scheduled to depart each terminal at 15 minutes past the hour, while the Tsawwassen-based vessels left at the top of the hour. This was to avoid ships meeting in Active Pass. I believe that I took this shot from a route 1 sailing bound for Tsawwassen, no doubt one of the un-lifted V-class vessels. The original of this image is a Kodachrome slide. Kodachrome film emulsion, while noted for its rich colour, suffered from a very narrow 'latitude' meaning you would get good exposure results throughout the photo if highlights/shadows were not more than 2 f-stops off of the optimum exposure for the shot, overall. In this view the recreational fishing boats in the foreground were generally under-exposed resulting in a loss of detail & colour. A descent modern digital SLR camera would not have any problems dealing with a lighting situation such as you see here.
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