By Mike Davenport, EAA 89102, Langley, British Columbia
The Thursday night dinner special at Mary’s Bleue Moon Café was fish and chips.
What better reason does one need to take two airplanes and five hungry people to Victoria on Vancouver Island?
Five of us mounted a Piper Cherokee and a Cessna Cardinal for the 25-minute hop over the Straits of Georgia from Langley (CYNJ) to Victoria International (CYYJ).
While Victoria has somewhat complex arrival and departure procedures, these were navigated with minimum fuss with the help of a friendly air traffic controller.
Dinner was great and went well with staff clearly oriented to customer satisfaction. Toward the end of our meal, Mary’s played music and songs at a volume apparently intended for the auditorily challenged. As this made conversation somewhat difficult, dessert was declined in favour of an earlier departure.
The flight in both directions was smooth with visibility “clear and a million” with unsurpassed views of the Gulf Islands and the lower mainland south of Vancouver.
The evening wrapped up in Glen’s hangar with a thorough debriefing, some adult beverages, and conversation about this and other flights.