Alternate Opportunities

For the past couple of days the rain and wind just haven't been playing fair and as a result we had to find other ways to enlighten ourselves to pass the time by. 

CF-101 Vodoo.  Hawk One was the signature aircraft of the Nighthawks, 409 all-weather fighter squadron.

Yesterday we visited the Comox Air Force Museum which I have never been to in all the years that I have "played" in the area. 

The collection of memorabilia and information was amazing and well worth stopping by to visit. There are also a number of decommissioned aircraft on the grounds that once served at CFB Comox. I could resist the opportunity to sit in an ejection seat and get my picture taken. Don't worry.... the big yellow handles don't work. I know ..... I tried them!  LOL

We spent the rest of the day driving around checking out put in locations and even talked to a couple of local kayakers about paddling across to Denman Island. Gotta love kayakers and the wealth of information they love to share about their paddling home waters. A quick stop at Fanny Bay Oysters for another batch of BBQ treats and then we spent the rest of the time Geocaching our way back to Courtenay. We also checked out the local kayak shop Comox Valley Kayaks and if you are in the area you just have to check out the inventory of boats and gear they have in stock.

After a night of heavy rains we awoke to 25 knot winds roaring up the Salish Sea so paddling was out of the question for the day. Instead we decided to go for a hike around Seal Bay Park and find Geocaches while we tried to get ourselves lost in the woods. Over a period of 4 hours we managed to find 20 "caches" and covered a distance of almost 13 km. 

One of the coolest things we found on the trail head was a QR code that once scanned with our Blackberry it enabled us to see a map of where we were. Ya, we had two GPS'rs with us but they didn't have all the trails so it looked like we were simply walking around a big open field as far as they were concerned.

If you have a QR app on your smartphone try it on this picture.

Being so close to 19 Wing Comox there was FA-18 activity today and we could hear them roaring over the tree tops (maybe looking for us??) pulling high "G" turns. I managed to take this photo as the fighter went full "dirty" on approach to the runway. 

Back to base camp where it was moving day for us after the long weekend campers had vacated the prime sites on the water front. Now this is the life living right on the beach.

Oh yeah ...... other great things to watch fly by in front of the campsite. :-)

CAF C-17 Globemaster III

Our little hike around Seal Bay Park