Since moving back to Vancouver Island, I’ve done my best to follow through on my promise to myself to explore a new place or try something new at least once a week. This week was no exception and when I unexpectedly ended up exploring Protection Island, just off Nanaimo, BC.

To get to Protection Island, you need to take a 5-minute passenger ferry near the corner of Front Street and Promenade Drive. Although I found the ferry cost to be somewhat expensive ($9 return), it was well worth it once I saw what awaited me on the other side.

The main mode of transportation on Protection Island is by golf cart. The dirt roads are lined with lovely rustic cabins and cottages, and the beachfront homes have absolutely beautiful views. I found the island to have a very welcoming atmosphere; the people were friendly, saying hello or waving as they passed by in their golf cart, or on their bicycle. 

We arrived on the island at mid-afternoon and decided to walk around and explore a bit before finding a seat on the sunny patio at the Dinghy Dock Pub. We weaved down the dirt roads (all named with a pirate theme) and explored every beach access trail we came across.

It was hard to believe that Nanaimo was only a 5 minute boat ride away. It felt like a whole other world and was a bit reminiscent of the time I spent on the islands in Belize. There were even palm trees!

Appys at the Dinghy Dock Pub

All that exploring makes a girl thirsty, so after a couple of hours we found our way back to the Dinghy Dock Pub and found a seat on the floating patio for well-deserved cocktails and appys. The pub was decorated with a pirate theme and also had a huge projection tv, perfect for a fun hockey (or other preferred sport) night out. If you arrive by private boat, there are lots of boatslips around the pub to moor your boat while you enjoy your meal.

We ordered the Thai mussels, crab stuffed mushroom caps and a pint of prawns. Sadly, I didn’t take photos of the food. I’m a huge fan of seafood, so as soon as the food hit the table I dived right in. The appys were delicious, the drinks were refreshing, the service was good and the hot sun and the view were amazing!

Protection Island made for a perfect mix of afternoon exploration and patio time; I highly recommend it as a fun day trip adventure if you’re in the Nanaimo area. Although we didn’t stick around for sunset, I imagine this would be a perfect spot to watch it from. I look forward to returning later this summer to take one in and to explore the island further! 

Ferry Information:

The ferry runs from 7am to 10pm (11pm on Thursdays and Fridays). It leaves Protection Island every hour on the hour, and leaves the Nanaimo side 10  minutes past every hour. The ramp to access the Protection Island Ferry waiting room is located on the corner of Front Street and Promenade Drive in downtown Nanaimo.

Round Trip Fares:

Adult – $9.00
Senior (age: 65+) – $8.00
Child (age: 6-12) – $6.00
Bikes – $5.00
Dogs – $2.00

Have you been to Protection Island? Share your experience in the comments below.

Harbour Air held business card draw at Social Media Camp‘s networking bash this past weekend where winners would win a scenic tour with Harbour Air around Victoria for themselves and a guest. Although I didn’t win the draw, I was invited by two of the winners to join them for this wonderful lunch-hour adventure! Having never been on a float plan before, I was very excited! Led by Turbo the Sea Otter, the winning group traipsed from the Victoria Conference Centre, through the Fairmont Empress Hotel and down to the Harbour Air flight docks in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Turbo made a few new friends along the way. After some quick photos with Turbo (I kind of have a thing for mascots – I love them!), the pilot led us down to the plane for priority boarding. After watching the safety video for the flight, we were off! Woohoo! The flight was incredible! Victoria looked very different from the sky than I imagined it in my mind from driving around the city. We toured the Victoria area for about 30 minutes and enjoyed so many beautiful views, before returning to the Inner Harbour. After taking a closer look at their website, I’ve concluded that Harbour Air is a very convenient way to travel around the West Coast of British Columbia. They fly from downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria, to BC’s Gulf Islands and even to up Comox and Whistler. If you’re not interested in the long travel times of ferries and stresses of the road, this is the way to go. With docks at YVR, the Vancouver Harbour and Victoria’s Inner Harbour, it’s the most convenient island hopper I’ve seen, especially for business commuters.

Harbour Air also provides private charters and parcel service. Other scenic tours include flights around Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler, Nanaimo and Seachelt. Learn more at the Harbour Air website.

Sending a huge thank you to @HarbourAirLtd for the lunch-hour adventure, and to @Vancouverscape and @Bars_Bartending for inviting me to join them! It was an awesome way to take my first ever seaplane flight! I highly recommend Harbour Air’s scenic tours to anyone wanting a bird’s eye view of this beautiful place we live in. Yay!

The Western Trillium is a protected flower in B.C. It takes up to 15 years to flower and if picked, the growth can be stunted for years. They can be found all over Vancouver Island. It is illegal to pick or dig them up in the wild due to the protection act.

I found this one during my dog walk today on a little country road in the Cowichan Valley.

I think I more than doubled my Canadian Olympics attire in the past week and I have NO idea how I’m going to pack it all to Sochi! Not only am I bringing stuff to wear, but I’m also bringing some things to trade with other fans and photograph around the Olympic venues.

Additions to my collection this year include a reversible down jacket from the Bay, a couple of hoodies from the Sport Chek Olympics collection, and of course this year’s mittens and toque from the Bay. It’s so easy to get carried away when shopping for this stuff! Seriously, I could have bought one of everything but I was able to restrain myself. I was seriously coveting the wool sweater, but had to hold back for budget reasons.

Of course the entire Quatchi family in this photo will not be making the trip to Sochi. Only one of the small ones… Quatchi will be my “travel Sasquatch” for this adventure. He has accompanied me on a few trips now, including Thailand, Bali, and Costa Rica. Quatchi will be posting to his own Twitter account: @QuatchiTravels, so please follow to see what he’s up to!

Only one more sleep until I board a plane and start my journey to Russia! I can’t wait to get to Sochi to capture and share the Olympic Spirit with you all! I’m pretty sure I’m all set… Am I missing anything?

Go Canada GO!

Throughout the Olympic Spirit Project I’ve seen generosity that I never knew existed. People are AWESOME! People I never expected to take an interest in what I’m doing have come out of nowhere and contributed to the project. People I haven’t seen or spoken to in years are supporting me beyond what I would have ever expected. And people I don’t even know are inspired by what I’m doing and have pledged their support and it has blown me away!

Whichever group you fall into, I say to you:

 Some Examples of Awesomeness:

A corporate sponsor pledged a completely unexpected contribution to the project. Thank you Brandy’s Whistler!

A reporter from my local paper featured the project in the weekend newspaper.

An associate producer from CBC heard about my story and set up an interview with CBC Toronto’s Heather Hiscox for their CBC’s Road to the Olympics segment.

A group of Canadian volunteers offered me accommodations with their group in Adler, Russia at a cost that was far more reasonable than I was finding on my own.

A friend recommended an amazing travel agent who found me the perfect flights! Coincidentally, she booked all the flights for the Canadian Alpine and Snowboard teams, so I totally lucked out with someone who knows her stuff! (Contact me for her contact info, if you are looking for great service!)

I posted a message in a Facebook photography group this week that I was looking to borrow or rent some gear for the project and within 10 minutes I had a response from someone and had a lens in my hands within an hour!

And what has and continues to be the most amazing, are the people who are sharing the project on their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and in their conversations with words of encouragement. Thank you all for sharing in this ambitious dream which is allowing me to live a life that inspires me! And THANK YOU for sharing the Olympic Spirit and making it a reality for me!

To everyone who has joined me on this adventure:
You are amazing and I am so grateful to have every one of you in my life!

With gratitude,
Mariska

Many of you have asked me what’s Roxie is doing while I’m in Costa Rica?”

Well…. THIS! : )

Best dog EVER! 🙂

Vancouver Island > Vancouver

I had a long day ahead of me for my journey to Costa Rica. Although my flight out of YVR wasn’t until 5:45pm, I still had to get over to the mainland from the Island. So after hugging Roxie goodbye, I got in the car and headed to the Nanaimo ferry terminal to catch the 10:30am ferry to Vancouver.

When I arrived at the terminal, I bought my ticket and went through, and grabbed a coffee just in time to hear the announcement that due to high winds the ferry would be delayed and possibly cancelled. If the boat didn’t go within the hour, the next sailing wouldn’t be until 3pm! Whaaaaaat??!!!

I was happy that I had given myself lots of extra time, but if 3pm was the next available sailing, I would not make it to the airport in time. So I started stressing. I got my ferry ticket refunded, sat on a bench outside the terminal, and proceeded to call the seaplane company around the corner (weather was preventing them from flying too) and then Air Canada from the Nanaimo airport (the one flight that would get me to YVR on time was already full and the next would be too late). Arg!!

Next, I called the Delta Airlines to see about rerouting my flight. As long as I got to Atlanta to catch the flight to Liberia, I would be fine. The woman presented me with a couple of options for rebooking the flight, but it was going to cost me at least an additional $500! Whaaaaat??!!!

So just as I needed to make a decision about changing the flights, the ferry announcement said they were ready to board! Yay!! (Relief!) So finally an hour and a half late, the ferry was on its way! Crisis averted! I had planned to meet my girls for lunch in Vancouver before heading to the airport, but considering the start to my day, I decided to head straight for the airport.

A friend picked me up in Horseshoe Bay and as we left the terminal, listening to the traffic report they announced that there was an accident blocking access to the Lions’ Gate Bridge, plus delays on the Granville Street Bridge, and construction on the Burrard Bridge. Awesome. So we went around to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, which was (thank goodness) clear of issues.

As we walked from the airport parking lot to the departures terminal, I got a phone call and an email saying that my flight would leave an hour earlier. Whaaaaat??! So I went straight to the check-in desk and asked about it and the attendant said the flight would leave at the original scheduled time and that the call and email were some sort of glitch. O…k… Stress diffused.

Relieved, we went for a quick bite, I said goodbye, checked in and went thought customs. My flight was routed from YVR > LAX > ATL > LIR, a 17 hour journey. Considering the way the trip began, I was relieved that I didn’t have any issues with US customs. (Not being Canadian, it can sometimes be a pain in the arse.)

So I ended up at the Canucks Bar & Grill with a Caesar just in time to catch the retiring of Pavel Bure’s jersey and the Canucks vs. Leafs game. Back to happy!

YVR > LAX

The next leg of my trip took me to Los Angeles. Not much to report there, but did see fun facts about my two home cities, Vancouver and Amsterdam. (Seems I am the average Dutch girl with a height of 5’8.) The layover here was 2 hours, and my hike from one gate to the next took me only 8 minutes. Perfect. So I had some food and boarded my red eye flight to Atlanta.

LAX > ATL

The flight was quiet and uneventful, and upon arrival in Atlanta (about 4:30am local time), I checked the boards for my next departure gate. It said E35, so I grabbed a tea and a muffin, and headed to the gate. I had 5 hours to kill, so found a corner by the window, watched the sunrise, and then tried to get some sleep.

My flight to Liberia was to leave at 9:45am. When I looked out the window at 9am, there was no plane. Whaaaaat?? So I checked with the woman at the desk and she informed me that they had changed the gate for the flight to E5. Seriously??? So now I’m running across the airport to get to E5, because it was already boarding. So I get there and pretty much walk right onto the plane.

ATL > LIR

As I sit down, I’m thinking to myself, “Thank God this is the last leg of the trip! There can’t be much more that can go wrong…” And sure enough, as I go to fill out the customs and immigration paperwork  during the flight, my pen exploded. Ink everywhere. OMG! Seriously, who does that happen to??? Hahaha!

Upon landing in Liberia, customs was quick and easy, and my shuttle driver was there waiting for me. Perfect! I was so happy to be leaving the airport! Only another hour by car, and I was in Tamarindo!

And 29 hours later…

THIS is what made it all worth it!

When was the last time you actually played in the fall leaves? It’s been a while for me. The past few years I’ve watched them fall, admired and appreciated their colors, and photographed them, but it’s been a long time since I’ve kicked them around.

So as I enjoy my last few days before heading off to Central America, I’ve taken advantage of my walks in the country with Roxie and have enjoyed several moments like this one:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xddcTw-c6gw

Get outside and enjoy the leaves!

Costa Rica, here I come!

I can hardly wait! In just 4 more sleeps I set out on the 17 hour journey to Costa Rica, and on Sunday afternoon I will be soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of a new tropical destination! Every time I get off a plane and smell that tropical air, it feels like I’ve arrived home. I can hardly WAIT!!

Almost every morning since I booked my ticket a few weeks ago, I’ve been waking up with this song in my head, so I thought I would share, not just to get it out of my head, but also because it’s a great song by a local British Columbian musician. Enjoy!

Costa Rica ~ Vince Vaccaro

Well I’ve grown tired of singing songs That I don’t believe in anymore
And I’ve grown tired of feelin’ old
Like I’m lookin’ for summer but I find the cold
Yeah.

Well my seasons roll by high and low
I don’t hold the reigns I don’t have control
And I wish my dice had a different roll
And I wish my path weren’t a ragged road
Yeah.

Lets leave to me and you babe
Lets go to Costa RicaLets leave to me and you babe
Lets go to Costa Rica

I wanna leave this place yeah to never be found
I wanna leave my old life far behind
Can I lose my name, be someone new
And I’ll throw my trouble deep in the wild blue

Lets leave to me and you babe
Lets go to Costa RicaLets leave to me and you babe
Lets go to Costa Rica

Today was a crazy day. I woke up in Whistler with my family, had a cup of coffee, and hit the road back to Vancouver for Moving Day. We drove straight to U-haul and were at my house, ready to load up by 12:30. By 2pm everything was loaded, the place was clean, I had dropped off the keys and we were on the road to the ferry terminal to head to Vancouver Island.

I’m officially homeless. I have no house. I left my car in Whistler, and everything I own is in a small U-haul trailer, and I’m sitting on a ferry as I write this. Holy crap!!

It’s a strange feeling to leave a city that I’ve lived in for nearly 13 years. As the ferry pulled away from the terminal, I looked back and thought, “I don’t live there anymore. Weird.” It feels strange that I don’t have a place to go back to, but at the same time it’s a freeing experience to know that I’m starting fresh and with a clean slate. By the end of this week I’ll have packed a suitcase and will be on a plane to new adventures, including beaches, sunsets, Spanish, new foods, new people, new EVERYTHING! So excited!!

But will admit that I’m more than a little freaked out. I’ve asked myself more than once today, “What the hell did you just do?!” But at the same time, my intuition is telling me I’m doing the right thing. So I have to trust that.

So, here goes nothin’! My new life has begun!