British Columbia’s lower mainland is a busy place. In fact, the entire Pacific Northwest is filled with busy people going to work, going to restaurants, going to the movies and enjoying urban life.

Does that sound exhausting to anyone else?

I love living in Vancouver, but whenever I get a chance to escape and set my mind to exploring something new, something unique; well, I jump at the chance.

A few months ago I had just such an opportunity – a journey to a tiny coastal retreat called Salt Spring Island. Salt Spring was an hour long seaplane ride from Vancouver, but I immediately felt like I was in another country. Suffice to say it was a relaxing trip.

Apart from all of the great things to do in the village of Ganges, here are my top five methods of exploring the wild side of Salt Spring far from the hub of the village.

1. Hiking Maxwell Mountain

The mountain is a favourite of locals and tourists alike, but if you’re looking for a quiet reprieve, the good news is that Salt Spring Island simply doesn’t have a lot of locals relative to the total space on the island.

When you make it to the start of Maxwell’s circuit of trails, make sure you venture off the beaten path. The forest on the mountain leading up to the summit is an adventure straight from the pages of a fantasy novel.

Just be careful though. The mountain rises far from sea level; there are precarious peaks and ledges along the edge of the trails.

Oh yeah, before you go, askthe locals about how to find thefairy ring. You’ll see why.

2. Ruckle Park

Ruckle Park is a combination campsite and day-use park on the furthest southern tip of Salt Spring Island. Adventurers can look for starfish and other marine life between the rocks while simultaneously searching for seals and whales off-shore. If you have a day or two you can watch the glorious sunset and fall asleep to the sound of lapping waves by camping on the soft grass just up from the beach,

3. On The Water

Because Salt Spring is such a small island, kayaking and canoe tours are an excellent way to see the local scenery from a different perspective. Not only will you get a good workout, you’ll do so outside beneath the brilliant coastal sun. Plus, you’ll work up an appetite and have plenty of options for dining once you get back to the dock.

4. Whale-watching Tours

The raw power of the mysterious beasts below the waves is an adventure every human being should experience at some point in their lives. Salt Spring’s whale watching tours gives people a chance to experience wildlife like seabirds, seals, dolphins and of course whales on their turf.

5. Wine Tours & Farms

Heading off the beaten path outside of Ganges gives tourists the opportunity to experience a slower pace of life. The locals living in the Salt Spring countryside are dedicated to the finer things in life, like wine, cheese, environmentally-friendly farming and local art. Many of them sell their wares at the Salt Spring Market on Saturdays throughout the summer, but if you want the authentic experience, renting a car and heading out on a tour is the way to go.

Salt Spring Island has something for everyone, whether you’re setting up shop in town or you’re more of the adventurous sort. The key is to plan not to plan, to go with the flow and turn in whichever direction your spirit moves you.

Life in a Seaplane Hangar: What’s Behind the Scenes?

“Hey Kelvin, nice to meet you!”

These are the first words I’m greeted with outside Harbour Air’s large hangar in Richmond, British Columbia. Erika Nixon is Harbour Air’s Maintenance Manager and she’s here to show me around the shop.

This is where the magic happens.

One of the first things obvious to me was how passionate everyone was about working with the airplanes. The atmosphere was buzzing as people moved pieces of wings around, worked on engines and crafted the beautiful machines I get to fly in.

Take it away Erika!

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Kelvin: What’s something about the hangar that might surprise someone like me who’s never been in one before?

Erika Nixon: We actually make a lot of modifications to these aircraft. We almost create brand new planes out of old ones we overhaul, we’re constantly improving everything. We like to think of ourselves as classic car mechanics, everyone just loves working on the planes with their hands.

Is that why people like working here? To scratch that mechanic’s itch?

For sure. It’s a very unique operation. We’re the one of the largest seaplane airlines in the world and it’s a unique opportunity for all of us. We modify the aircraft to improve them. You see the panoramic windows on that one? That’s a modification to the aircraft, we’re constantly making them better.

So you can take different parts out and swap them with new pieces?

Yep, you can see the original windows on the Otter over there, they’re quite small, so this allows a little bit more viewing pleasure for our passengers. We rework the dash, we also do repair on our flight controls, our wings, basically making sure that everything is top-notch. Of course we work very closely with Transport Canada.  Everything that changes has to go through them for approval.

What does everyone’s background look like? Is the appeal to work on machines and work with their hands? Are they mechanics?

Yep, you bet. That’s how it starts, people passionate about working on machines. Then there’s a lot of education and on-the-job training that goes into working on any aircraft in the world. Because we’re a specialized aircraft, seaplanes, we develop our own unique training programs, something that our training coordinator oversees and runs. Everybody who works on an aircraft has to have a Transport Canada approved maintenance course and then they go through their apprenticeship.

It’s like a lot of the other trades where you go through school to become an electrician, you’re not actually an electrician quite yet.

You need to take in the theoretical knowledge and then add the practical knowledge.

Yes. BCIT is one of the institutions that is accredited by Transport Canada, so some of our people have gone through BCIT. There’s also Northern Lights, they offer another accredited course. There’s a variety of different locations that offer these courses.  When they come and do their apprenticeship time with us, they fill their log book out, then they complete their Canadian Aviation Regulations exam and finally Transport Canada issues them a license to work on aircraft.

Is it similar to becoming a pilot then?

It is a lot of on-the-job training for sure in that sense. We have a saying in this industry, “the day you stop learning is the day you should get out of the industry”.

No kidding. That should be every industry, right?

Yeah, one would hope, right? (laughs) You’re constantly wanting to learn, there’s constantly elements to improve upon. Obviously, it’s a safety-critical environment, so that’s our highest priority.

Everything I’ve learned about Harbour Air so far is married to safety.

It’s our number one priority.

And people can be safe and concentrate on their work and do fun stuff while they’re at it.

Exactly. We’ve got a great team environment, and we’re lucky in this environment to have people who’ve been working on this type of aircraft for decades. I did an experiment a few weeks ago because I wanted to see how many years total experience we have here in this department, it’s in the hundreds of years.

Really? That’s awesome. Did you find an actual number?

Yep. So there are three different types of aircraft: Beaver, Single Otter and Twin Otter.

For Beaver, it’s over 575 years of experience. Singles it’s 443 and Twins: 233 years of combined experience.

Wow.

It’s pretty spectacular. Like, it’s staggering, actually. We are very lucky, we have a ton of experts on these type of aircraft with a ton of experience and that’s why a lot of people come to us to work on our aircraft.  A lot of private owners and a lot of other companies as well.

Private owners come to you as well?

Yep. Beavers, Turbo Beavers, Cessnas – people own them and they want them well taken care of.

So you’re basically the all-encompassing mechanics of the sky.

Yes, exactly! We operate as Aeroflite International Service Ltd. 

Awesome. So what area are we standing in right now?

This is the structures area. They work on the structural repair of our components and our aircraft. They can work on rebuilding the floats, you can see they’re stacking up flight controls here. Bits of the tail and the wing basically. We can take anything apart and swap it for an improvement. Even the seats are removable. We can repair those, the seat upholstery undergoes some wear and tear. We have an upholstery place in Victoria that helps us out with that.

We’ve talked a lot about how the shop runs and how everyone else works – how about you, Erika? What brought you to Harbour Air?

Me? (Laughs) I just know I work with an amazing bunch of people. It’s rewarding to come to work every day.

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Erika Nixon’s seaplane hangar is a hive of activity.

There’s moving parts, moving people and lots of work. It’s fascinating to see the enthusiasm that each person has for their own part in the construction of an aircraft. When that plane is up in the sky, its flight is dependant on every component doing its job, and down here on land is no different.

Just like the plane itself, the hangar is just as strong as parts its made from.

Warren Randle : A Celebrated Pilot’s Lifetime of Adventure

Meet Warren Randle, a legacy at Harbour Air Seaplanes. An aviation veteran of over 25,000 hours in the air over his adventurous career. Warren has now settled in to enjoy retirement in Nanaimo, British Columbia, but not without a story to tell. Warren holds his career close to his heart, because for this pilot, the journey wasn’t always about the ups as much as it was about the downs.

These days Warren spends most of his time on land; lucky for us, I was able to catch up with him to learn more about a lifetime of exploring the world.

Kelvin: How did you arrive at Harbour Air?

Warren: For five years in the early 90’s I was working for Kenn Borek Air. They were contracted to Harbour Air during the summer seasons. Kenn Borek had a lot of Twin Otters and they leased to Harbour Air at the time. So, for four months every summer I would work there, flying Twin Otters up and down the coast, moving fisherman, loggers and tourists.

When I wasn’t flying contract for Harbour Air, I was away from home seven to eight months of the year.  I was in Antarctica for five months every year, and two months in the high Arctic Circle working with the military, polar expeditions, climbers and scientists.

Even though it was fantastic, exciting work, I left in the summer of 1994 because I wanted to be at home to raise my kids. I loved working at Harbour Air, I was always impressed how CEO Greg McDougall ran the company, especially how proactive they were on safety and employee relations.

It’s never easy making the decision to walk away from something you know so well, something that’s familiar.

Honestly, it really was. I was willing to start at the bottom if they were willing to have me and they were. So here I am 20 years later after being hired on July 11th, 1994.  Nobody could believe I would give up an adventurous job traveling around the world, but the world didn’t matter as much to me as my world here at home.  My career was very important before Harbour Air and it was a huge change, but Bill Pennings, chief pilot at the time, took me on and he decided I’d be a good fit because of my experience in single or turbine engines. It was two steps back and one step forward, but it was worth every bit of it, being home every night was more appealing than the major airlines.

The first seven years my family and I lived in Prince Rupert where I flew for Harbour Air on the north coast. It’s a very challenging environment and it was a challenging place to fly, the north coast is very windy, the tides are twice as high there, 23 to 26 feet every six hours.  It can be very difficult to fly the Hectate Straight and gauge where you can land, it’s almost too rough especially in storm force winds.

It was a challenging environment for the whole family. In Prince Rupert it rains 300 inches a year and half of that is horizontal due to high winds. I can remember crossing Main Street with a baby in the stroller, a toddler in hand, and bags of groceries hanging from the stroller. Moments later, after a gust of wind, the traffic had all stopped while motorists helped us chase down groceries and pick up our kids who had been blown over, along with the baby carriage. I can’t believe how my wife put up with those years, having being raised in a desert climate! When Harbour Air President, Peter Evans, gave us the opportunity to transfer to the south coast, we chose Nanaimo.

Aviation is a challenging yet rewarding industry to work in. What are some of the challenges you or other peers of yours have faced?

Well, I love my wife and being away from home eight months of the year is a tough situation. Other airlines are similar, it’s very tough to keep your family life intact. I didn’t want to go down that path. I keep telling people here, if they have a family, they have the best job in the world. The equipment is safe and because it’s a seaplane you’re home every night. Go and find that, along with decent wages, health benefits and employee perks anywhere else in the world and then come talk to me.

In 2008 you were diagnosed with cancer. What is it about your career that’s helped you get past that?

Thank goodness for me, I got cancer in 2008 and I’m still supported by Harbour Air.  For those of us who’ve needed the help, it’s been a godsend. We still have a house, I’m raising three daughters and I’m still unable to work.  It’s a sacrifice but we feel very lucky; maybe you’ll never fly skis in the Antarctic but so what?  Here it’s challenging, there’s always things to learn and there’s always someone willing to lend a hand.

My last flight was on June 18^th, 2008 and I was diagnosed a few weeks later on July 1^st, 2008.  I had one last flying opportunity and it was an extraordinary one that happened two years later, during the 2010 Winter Olympics.  The chief pilot at the time, Cec Sampert, was chosen to fly the Olympic flame along with its entourage from Salt Spring Island to Cowichan Lake for the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Cec phoned me and asked me to fly with him one last time. I was well, I had been out of the hospital for awhile, but what a fantastic way to go out!  Thanks to Cec Sampert, my last flight was in October of 2010.

Is it true you’ve logged over 25,000 hours in the air?

(Laughs) That’s true. Experience flying aircraft varies, depending on where you fly, what type of aircraft, and when you flew. 20 years ago, regular days off only existed for the pilots flying for the major airlines.  For those of us flying aircraft under 13,000 pounds, flying six days per week with the seventh day on call was normal. Working seven days per week was industry standard for us and logging 1,200 hours per year was common.

Thankfully, the flying industry has become much more civilized and safer. Harbour Air’s current chief pilot, Art Booth, submitted an application to Viking Air which owns the rights to the de Havilland Aircraft, on my behalf. They have a medallion program to recognize the hard work of pilots who have flown de Havilland Aircraft types for more than 5,000 hours. I recently received three of these pins and certificates for which my family and I are very grateful. The certificates included a poem called High Flight, which is a famous piece of literature often quoted. It’s even been read on the moon.

You’re not flying these days, but you’re still close with the team at Harbour Air.

I had a phenomenal 34 year career and before my diagnosis, I would have worked ten more years, I was feeling great.  Harbour Air is a dream job and I would have happily stayed as part of the crew.

I’m heading to Vancouver tomorrow actually to visit, staying tight with my colleagues at Harbour Air who have been so supportive. They have flown me to every appointment, back and forth to Vancouver General from the first day. They even did some crowd-funding. There was a three month gap between my holiday pay running out and the time long-term disability kicking in so Alicia, the Base Manager in downtown Vancouver, organized some fundraising events for my family. I haven’t seen her for a long time so I am taking my daughter over there tomorrow to see her and hopefully buy her a bowl of soup and give her a hug.

You know, it’s terrible that people have to get sick to have these experiences with those around them, but the support that comes through, the friends who stand by your side…

I know, it’s remarkable.  My Harbour Air friends have always been there and they are like family to me.  Every time I go there they’re so friendly and so kind. I can’t wait to see them tomorrow.

Catching up with a seaplane pilot isn’t always easy to do in the traditional sense, considering that their office is usually in the sky.  Anyways, Pilot Dan Cummins was more than happy to hook up over the phone from Victoria to share a little bit about a life spent around seaplanes.

Kelvin: How did you arrive at Harbour Air?

Dan: It all started when I was really young, my grandparents lived on the coast in Ocean Falls. They were right beside a float plane base and I fell in love with them really early, watching them take off and land in the water at an early age. I was hooked. I went and took lessons right out of high school before going off and doing other things. Around 30 I came back to the industry and got my license and certification all taken care of.  My first real job was through a mutual friend and I got hired as a first officer flying a Twin Otter in the Maldives, which was really cool. I did that for a year and half before landing a job in Vancouver with West Coast Air. I worked as an first officer for a year and then started flying a Beaver as a captain.

What are the main differences in responsibilities between a first officer and a captain?

As a first officer, you’re sitting beside the captain and helping take care of the aircraft, the passengers and the overall flight. Single engine aircrafts only have captains, they take care of everything. On twin engine planes the first officer is usually a junior pilot, learning more about the path to becoming a captain. Today I’m actually flying as a co-pilot and a captain. You build experience and time in the right seat as a co-pilot before getting hired as a captain, and after that experience you’re good to get a job higher up.

Higher up, literally! Sorry. Anyways, it sounds like the training is all built in.

Right, the training is built in because Harbour Air is very tough company to get into. We’re lucky because we’re one of the best if not the best float plane companies in the world. It’s tough to get a job, the standards are so high.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

It’s funny, I’ve done every job you can think of – construction, a paper mill, I’ve done a lot of real jobs. This is a real job too, but it’s one where I actually enjoy going to work in the aviation industry. I look forward to flying a plane, which is cool, it’s fun.

Harbour Air, as an employer is really getting better every year.  I’m going into my tenth year!  The core values of the business include health and wellness, it’s really fitness orientated, we all ride bikes and do triathlons together.  It’s a really good group of guys to work with, a cool culture that’s developed over the years. Greg McDougall (Harbour Air’s owner )  is really big into cycling, he does the BC Bike Race, Whistler GranFondo, Tour de Victoria and more. He really encourages people who want to enter races. The company keeps me young and healthy!

Do you have a favourite event or a place you find a way to visit every year?

Whistler, definitely. We go a couple times each year just to spend time there. We fly in the summer, that’s always nice.  Whistler Air’s operations usually start at the beginning of spring and it’s a fantastic route to fly, sure does make it easy to get there.  We fly to Vancouver Island once or twice a year too, but definitely Whistler is my favourite to go to at least two weekends a year in the summer. We’re more of a biking/hiking family, not as big into winter sports. The kids like to do nothing so it’s a bit of a challenge, but we force them out of the hotel where there’s no wifi.

What are your 5 favourite places to visit when you’re not working?

1. 1.   Whistler: I love to run the Lost Lake Loop.
2. 2.   Seattle: The kids really enjoy the Pike Place Market. I’m a huge fan of the duck tours in Seattle, the vehicle is amphibious, it actually goes in the water. They put on a show and you get a history lesson as well, it’s great. A little campy, but I think it’s hilarious.
3. 3.   Vegas: I most enjoy driving out of the city and seeing the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon tour.
4. 4.   Oregon Coast: Just hanging out eating oysters on the beach. It’s awesome.
5. 5.   Palm Desert: Riding my bike in palm desert; the bike lanes are massive, it’s flat and the temperatures are perfect.

I’ve heard a rumour that you’re quite popular with the celebrities who fly in and around the lower mainland. Got any cool stories for us?

Sully Sullenberger, the guy who crashed the Airbus into the Hudson River. He sat up front with me during the Olympics. He told me everything that happened, it was remarkable.

Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, I flew them and their two kids out to Tofino. They were incredibly nice, they’re both into hiking, Jennifer Connolly is really into the outdoors. I also met Harrison Ford when he was here a few years ago too, he was flying to do a movie.

The best one though was Burt Reynolds, he was dressed in all his 70’s gear.

Oh man, did you call him on it?

(Laughs) It was for a movie too. I really wanted to ask him if that’s what he wears all the time though. I wisely thought better of that idea, however.

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A veteran pilot who’s seen most of the world from up above, Dan Cummins is still a kid at heart after all these years. Ironically, he’s humble and remarkably down-to-earth, a man who’s been passionate about flight and travel his entire life.

“It’s just always an amazing experience. You get to fly around in an airplane, meet cool people and see incredible things. I once saw a group of about 20 humpback whales breaching and we circled them for 20 minutes. That was something else. I get to see different whales all the time, below the water while I’m up above it. Every day is an adventure to somewhere new for myself and the passengers.”

– Dan Cummins

If someone stopped you on the street and asked you what bathtub racing, the Isle of Man, Nanaimo, Harbour Air and British Columbia have in common, would you be able to answer?

No? Well, I’m here to help.

The answer: John Winter.

Let me explain. The Isle of Man is a small island in the Irish Sea. If lines were drawn between Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, John Winter’s hometown of Castletown, on the southern tip of the Isle of Man, would be directly in the middle. From this staging ground has grown one of the world’s most intense annual competitions: The World Tin Bath Championships.

Now, out of the billions of places in which one could live on this planet, can we agree that it’s rare for someone to live in just one city with a proud bathtub racing heritage? We can? Alright then, what are the chances of living in TWO such cities in the same lifetime?

It’s a distinction John Winter is blessed with and proud to share.

John is the base manager of Harbour Air’s Nanaimo terminal. I caught up with John to learn more about his lifelong obsession with travel and his knack for winding up in bathtub-centric cities.

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Kelvin: How did you arrive at Harbour Air?

John: I’ve spent the past 22 years in aviation and travel in some capacity. I got started working in the industry in Great Britain as an 18 year-old at the company that would later become British Airways. I began in reservations and ticket sales and from there I progressed into sales and marketing before striking out on my own as a travel agent for about a year. After that I spent about two years out of the travel industry backpacking.

So you weren’t working in travel for that year, you were just travelling yourself. 

Right, I suppose so (laughs). Whether I was backpacking or just travelling in general, I was crazy about finding new places to visit. In that two year window I spent time in the USA, Australia and New Zealand before coming to Canada and getting back into working in the travel industry.

How did you start working with Harbour Air?

I initially started doing temp work in Coal Harbour, so I could see the planes taking off every day. It was so beautiful, seeing all the activity. One day I wandered down at lunch and basically asked for a job out of the blue. I met with Chad Wetsch who invited me for an interview and he offered me a position in the freight department, which was new to me and I was happy to take. It was a new job in a new company, a new challenge. I worked there for three years, learning the ropes of that end of the company before becoming the company’s freight supervisor. Then the position in Nanaimo opened up and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to live in another place, to travel somewhere else. That was six years ago in August and here I am today. Just like Coal Harbour, I see the dock every day from my office in the Lighthouse Building. I see the planes taking off and the new people coming to visit.

What are some of the common questions you hear in your position?

We get asked how big we are all the time, which can mean a couple different things. We’re actually one of the world’s largest seaplane company with over 40 aircraft: the DeHavilland Beaver, the Otter and the Twin Otter.  They truly are legendary Canadian icons.

With regards to people, we’re a completely self-sufficient company. This means that we don’t need to hire other companies or contractors to maintain our aircrafts. In the summer we have over 300 staff members at 9 different locations. There are dock operations and the Customer Service Agents, the people who load the aircrafts, take reservations and are the front lines, the people who deal with our customers.

From there we have ground transportation crews and maintenance specialists, the people who do mechanical work, paint the planes, and then there’s the quality assurance that comes along with that.

We manufacture things for ourselves, we know our own product inside and out. Other airlines will actually come to us to buy parts or to paint their planes or service them.

Another common question is just where do we fly to and how much does it cost. People are surprised at the price because typical airline travel is really expensive because of how long it takes to get places. People are surprised because they can leave here and be checking in to a flight within an hour at the international airport in Vancouver, and it’s actually quicker to get there from Nanaimo then it is from Abbotsford.

What about some of the common myths of seaplane travel?

It’s expensive or it’s not reliable. We actually won an award called the Cumberbatch award for our safety record because of how we report hazards or issues we come across. Safety is the key for the entire company. It’s our number one priority. We’re all trained to identify and follow up on hazards on the aircraft, on the dock or even in the office. It’s a whole system, it’s part of the interview process, having the right to say no if something feels unsafe. We’re dealing with people and their lives.

What’s your favourite thing about living in Nanaimo?

The absolute best part of this city, I mean there are lots of cool places to visit, lots of authentic west coast spots, but the coolest thing is the International Bathtub Championships. Every July people get together and build bathtub boats, an old school bathtub built on a fiberglass hull with an outboard motor. The trip is  36 km around the harbour, around the straight of Georgia, around the Chelsea islands and finishing in Departure Bay right here in town. The race takes about three hours, these people are on their knees in a bathtub in the ocean for three hours.

I’d need rescue immediately, no question. 

It sounds crazy and it is, but these people are incredible. Imagine taking your bathtub, strapping an outboard motor on the back and just hoping for the best. People get investors and backing for their boats, they have people with a chase boat in case you do need rescue. The champions every year arrive at the beach and they have to jump out of the boat after three hours at sea and they race up the beach to ring a bell on shore to win the race.

The really weird thing is that back home on the Isle of Man we had a similar race, just minus the motor. We used the old style tin bathtubs, you have to build a boat that will float long enough to get across the harbour beside Castletown.

Wait, there are bathtub races in other places in the world? And you’ve lived in two of these cities? Come on…

I know! (laughs) So the two places I’ve spent the majority of my life in, they both have this immense passion for navigating the ocean in a bathtub. I don’t know what it is, I guess I just attract that sort of sense of adventure wherever I go!

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John Winter’s race might be a slow one, but it’s certainly been steady. His is a race to experience more, to meet new people and tackle new challenges. He’s lived in different countries all over the world because of an innate desire to see what exists beyond the clouds.

Through his travels, John has gained multiple perspectives of the world’s diversity; the sort of perspective one can only find after watching bathtub races on opposite sides of the planet.

And after settling in our little corner of the world, the sky’s the limit for John and his family.