Van Life

I never thought I'd say, "We bought a van." But that's exactly what we did last fall.  It's a Nissan NV200 cargo van. Basically the smallest Andrew could find to fit our needs/wants and still get reasonably decent gas mileage (7.8 litres/100 km average thus far).

The inside was a "blank canvas" that our construction-talented friends, Ian and John Mollison, worked their magic on. Andrew gave them ideas on layout and design and, after a bit of back and forth adding thoughts and suggestions, they beautifully made it happen. 

A sleeping platform with various storage compartments underneath; a living room with a table that serves as dining room, kitchen, office and charging station. 

We went to Century Textiles in Saskatoon and picked out foam and fabric. I had a momentary, fleeting thought that I could do this myself but quickly abandoned that idea! So glad I did! They recommended a guy named Bernie who could do the upholstery for us and he did an awesome job. (I think he's a retired upholsterer but still does a few side jobs in retirement.)

The front has two cushions, one over each of the front storage areas. The back has four: two over the side storage/seating areas and two smaller ones in the middle that serve as back rests when the table is up. It's easy to throw the cushions where ever needed when accessing the storage areas.

I did make curtains (essentially rectangular pieces of cloth with strong magnets sewn into each corner that simply attach to the metal inside the van) but since we were never all that close to other people to need the privacy, we didn't use them on this trip.

Food, large water containers, stove, fuel and "charging gadgets" storage is at the back. And, if you happen to be travelling through British Columbia, a wine box fits perfectly!  :-)

The front edge of the platform is a bit higher so that the cushions don't move forward. In front of this is the perfect spot for boots/shoes, laptop/book bags and water bottles. You can also see how Bernie designed the cushions to fit nicely around the curves of the van rather than it being a straight rectangle.

The table can either rotate side to side or be locked in place. We often just left the table up during the day if we weren't travelling too far.

Ian and John also put insulation on the ceiling (covered by a white panel) to help with warmth and to decrease road noise, and a vent with a fan that can be plugged in to either the vehicle battery or a separate battery (see below).

One side storage area holds paragliding gear; the other side holds sleeping bags, clothes and miscellaneous other items. The storage areas can be accessed either by lifting the whole top or just pulling up the side.

A Goal Zero Yeti 400 lithium portable power station and Nomad 100 solar panel help keep our gadgets charged when we're away from any power supply for a few days.

I gotta say . . . I love van life! It's just so much easier than setting up a tent and blowing up sleeping pads every night. No shivering over breakfast and supper. No soggy tent after a night of hard rain. A comfortable place to sit and read, work on photos/video, enjoy a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Of course, maybe I'm just getting wimpy in my old age!  :-)

Flying Five Springs Falls

Andrew is always searching for "quiet" flying sites. i.e. not too many people around. He found Five Springs Falls, Wyoming, on paraglidingmap.com and, having been here a few times now, we have yet to see any other paragliders. But it's a very nice site with nice launch and landing areas and a beautiful campground.

I'm usually the one taking photographs when we fly but Andrew actually remembered to take a few of me this time!

The main (new) highway is shown in the photo above but the old highway is a paved and very winding road that goes to the lower and upper campgrounds. The launch site is at the upper campground. With both of us wanting to fly, we had to hike back up. Thankfully, a guy (who happens to be on their local Search and Rescue team!) who lives just across the highway came along once and gave us a ride back up. And for evening flights, when we knew we wouldn't be in the air very long, we took turns flying or driving. 

On the hour long hike back up to launch and our vehicle.

The launch area

Sadly, after a few awesome flights, I twisted an ankle on one of my landings (not the same ankle I broke last year!) I'm walking fine but don't really want to take any chances so will be Andrew's retrieve driver likely for the remainder of the trip. Bummer! Oh well, I'm just happy to be on the road again and will enjoy the sites, being outdoors and taking photos and video.

First Flights

Andrew and I have finally escaped Saskatoon and we're on the road! 

First super fun flights near Havre, Montana. The smokey sky in the evening resulted in a bright red hazy sun. (It wasn't as dark as it looks.)

In the morning we hiked up another peak and found a launch area in the direction the wind was coming from (not ideal) and got short sled rides.

Andrew -- another smokey day

Me and my SAR orange wing 

The wild flowers are in full bloom. This is just a very small sample! 

Belize Dive Videos

It's fun taking some video while we're diving and, while cutting it down to something even remotely worth watching is a bit tedious, I enjoy the end results. Even if it's only for me to watch later and reminisce about the beautiful underwater creatures we've seen. But really, I do hope others enjoy as well! 

Diving in Belize (4 minutes)

Turtles (1 minute)

Rays (30 seconds) 

Sharks (12 seconds)

Eels (30 seconds)

More Diving and Birds at Blackbird Caye

Our dive trip to Belize is at an end. It’s been wonderful to rest and relax for a couple weeks. Thankfully I think we missed the worst of the extremely cold weather back in Saskatoon (i.e. -40 to -50 degress C; 100-year record-setting low temperatures). 

While the first week and a half on Blackbird Caye was quite windy, we then experienced what it is like when the wind shifts to the opposite direction and the island and palm trees block the breeze. The mosquitoes and other insects are ferocious! I usually don’t get bothered too much but now have several large red welts wherever I got bit and I have to try not to scratch. Ugh! Now I know what Andrew goes through much more often. 

We continued to have really nice dives (more turtles and spotted eagle rays) and go for walks each afternoon to search for birds and other creatures such as iguanas, lizards, snakes and hermit crabs. 

"Splish splash I was takin' a bath."

Hello! Hello? Please let me in!

Diving Blackbird Caye

Hooded Oriole

The past few days have settled into a nice routine. We do two dives in the morning and, although a third dive is scheduled, take the afternoon off to nap, read, review photos and video, and go for a walk to search out birds and other wildlife. Of course, the palapa bar for a drink and socializing before supper is mandatory!

Of the four people who arrived on Wednesday, two are divers but one is taking his rescue diver course, so it’s been interesting seeing and learning about what is required. It looks exhausting! And you definitely need to be a strong swimmer (which I’m not). 

The dives have continued to be very good with healthy reef and lots of underwater life. More spotted eagle rays, sting rays and very large green moray eels, in addition to some small things such as jawfish and sailfin blennies have been fun to see. 

Our divemaster, Cardinal, always takes a spear with him and catches lionfish (an invasive species that tends to wipe out local species) so the non-vegetarians have had lots of fish fingers as the happy hour appetizer. The chef has been amazing at providing delicious vegetarian meals for us. We are eating very well!!!

I mostly take video under water but the odd  photo turns out ok.

I like the bright yellow "feathers" (for lack of a better term.)

In addition to diving, one of the other guests was into fishing. Catch and release but he was pretty happy about it. 

On the other end of the island is an abandoned research station that lost their funding.

Just the foundations of some of the buildings remain.

Coconuts

There are lots of great tailed grackles on the island.

Cat tails

Cormorant

Showing off his wing span

The catch of the day

The crocodile lives in the lagoon west of the island but comes around for the cast offs from fish cleaning.

A spiky tail

The resident little blue heron

Frigate bird

Little blue heron in flight

Pelican