West Vancouver Isle

 
Sarita River, near Bamfield

One last helicopter survey of the summer... this one on the southwest coast of our beautiful Vancouver Island. Parks Canada and BC Province shared funds to fly the West Coast Trail, part of the Pacific Rim National Park. We flew the coastline from Bamfield to Sooke, where the trail is, plus the more developed shorelines between Sooke and Victoria. We had two days of helicopter time, scheduled during the last low tides of the summer, wedged luckily between fog banks and storm fronts... it worked out perfectly!


Setting up and fueling the heli at the Victoria airport the night before our survey.


Low tide surveys always mean pre-dawn set-ups. Sean always has a great attitude when around helicopters!


Actually they make me pretty happy too.


Sean and me in Bamfield after refueling

From Bamfield, flying south along the west coast, these are some of the beatiful sights...

 
Pachena River

 
Wide, sandy beach at the mouth of the Pachena River

 
Pachena Point


Tsusiat Falls, spilling onto the beach from a river mouth that is perched atop a horizontal rock ledge


Wide, wave-cut platforms at Bonilla Point


Sea caves along the West Coast trail


Point No Point... the red bridge is part of the West Coast trail


Nitinat Narrows, the constricted entrance to a huge, brackish lagoon


Boulders on a beach east of Jordan River... I thought this looked like a whale tail!


Whiffin Spit, Sooke Harbor


Wide mudflat at the head of Sooke Harbor


It's not all pristine and beautiful along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. This is a gravel mine just east of Sooke.


Another gravel mine by Royal Roads, outside of Victoria.


William Head Institution, a high-security penitentiary west of Victoria... we had to obtain special permission to fly here. Kind of spooky and weird.


Lighthouse on the reefs called "Race Rocks" offshore of Victoria


Esquimalt Lagoon, very close to Victoria Harbor. We had to have special permission to fly here as well... it's a Dept. of National Defense site! Also spooky and weird! We are used to flying in remote places... on this day we felt we were being watched (through a range-finder perhaps). :)


Esquimalt Harbor


Approaching beautiful Victoria


Our pilot (Clayton), me, Sean, and biologist Heather