Its almost over...

August is over????

I am late again, my bad. This is going to be an entry worth 2 weeks of work, as I am currently on holidays. Funny that even though I am on holidays, I am spending most of my time floating on a dock which is exactly what I do at work. These last couple weeks have seen some miserable people hitting the docks, who I have had the pleasure of dealing with. These individuals have been incredibly upset with our policies...things like if you come to a marina, spend the night, and use our shore power services it is ludicrous that you would then have to pay for that. People say some really shameful things, and things that I cannot reprint here, because I think I would get in trouble for typing them in. Otherwise things are quite good, and the holidays are nice. We are having an end of summer work dinner this Saturday, and also a game of golf, but the golf is at Fairwinds, and that is almost $80.00 for green fees, so I think I will be skipping that, as there will be textbooks to buy soon.
Today I was offered a winter position at the Port, which is an awesome development, as it means I don’t have to look for another job for the school year. I am interested to see the different things that happen during the off-season at the port, and the changes that will come during the slower months. One thing is for sure, there will definitely be more studying in the winter months than the summer ones! See you all in a few weeks...maybe less!

Almost the end...

Hey all,

So, things are just ducky down at the Port. Been very busy, and finding myself using lots of event management material in my day to day doings. This week we also had the Snowbirds performing on Wednesday. Our large breakwater, or VVP (Visiting Vessel Peir) was home base for both their radio operations as well as their announcer. They flew for 55 minutes almost, and I was actually out on the VVP keeping people from going down onto the peir. It was closed and gated, so I was able to actually sit and watch the planes fly for the whole show, and it was awesome. No matter how professional they are, a person can't help but cringe a little bit knowing how close they pass each other going 1000 km/h. An awesome show nonetheless, with crowd estimations at around 18-20,000 people coming down to the harbour to watch. I think that Matt and I had almost the best seats in the house, next to our boat crew, who were actually out on the water watching for vessels who were ignoring the harbour closure. Another good week, plus the surf was up this week, and I was Ukee bound on my days off! Gotta love it! See ya.

Couple weeks to go...

It is mid-August, and summer is almost over. Work has been busy, and the promise of rougher weather is bringing people into shelter which means that I have to get wet! Had an exciting Friday. I was working on the Harbour Patrol boat, and we had to take RCMP to Newcastle Island to do a patrol. On the way across to the island one of the cops asked us to circle back around past a boat. WE did, and the cops ended up confiscating a large amount of marijuana from a guy's boat. I never though that I would ever be the guy operating the vehicle in a police drug bust. Otherwise the Port hasn't had to much weird stuff this week, just one drug bust. Stay dry!

August?

Another week gone, and summer is quickly running out! It is already August, and I feel like I am just getting some summer stuff in now. The weather has been ridiculously nice, so there has been a huge amount of boats on the water. Work as been excellent, we have been smoking busy, and never getting dull. Th day-to-day tasks are becoming things that just happen, without much thought. This leaves room for all of our random police incidents and other community issues that can exist in the downtown. It has been good, e are still packed to capacity every night and have had to turn away a few boats who we just did not have any space for. I have worked on Cameron Island a few times, and it is a nice change. Quieter in a sense, but when it gets busy, you are absolutely running. We are having a couple new people start, and we had a guy from the same crew I work on leave or be asked to leave, I try to ignore all the other stuff and gossip that happens. New people will be good. Otherwise I have been hiking, camping and boating which is awesome. See you guys soon!

Bathtubs!

Well, It was just Bathtub weekend, and it was kind of a Gong show! I saw Micki this week for my mid-summer meeting, and I got to hear some feedback, and it also made me contemplate my accomplishments as well as the areas which I need to continue to focus, and try harder to achieve more. The meeting went well though, so that was a positive start to a very busy week. Lots of preparing to do, and lots of dock management, as we have been filled to essentially capacity for the last week and a half now, and expect to stay that way for another 4-5 weeks. No rest for the wicked right? I am writing a couple days late as I spent Monday working on Cameron Island. For anyone unfamiliar Cameron Island used to be an actual island, but it has since become a man-made peninsula, and is the area where the Gabriola Ferry docks, and also where I think Nananimo's only really fancy apartments and condos exist. Cameron Island is a different beast, as it generally houses only 50' + boats, which makes it a stressful day, because for 1; People take boats seriously, and these are serious boats. I would say the average cost of a boat that moors on Cameron Island is probably 1-3 million dollars ( i know!), with some probably reaching excesses of 5 or 6 million. It is a ridiculous amount of money to float around, but one of our recent Cameron Island boats had a built in salt water aquarium on one of the OUTSIDE decks! More money than I can even imagine. Also, I am not (you guys can vouch) a very sooty sophisticated person. It was an excercise in restraint for me to spend a day dealing with really really, rich people. Good day though. Bathtubs were very good, and I had a great vantage for the fireworks which were made memorable by the lightning which really was a much more awe inspiring show. I think Mother Nature was just letting us know that she can out do humans any time she wants. The picture is me with the S.S. Minnow and I am clearly pretending to work (I am really good at the pretending to work thing). Gilligan`s actual boat, and I got to tie it`s lines up. Awesome. Catch you guys next week.

Nine Weeks...

So, nine weeks in and things are just flying. This weekend was the Silly boat Regatta, which brings a lot of people down to the Harbour. We also had our first major Yacht club come through, which was the Seattle Yacht club. They had 900 feet of dock space reserved, and the Straight of Georgia was blowing in excess of 25 knots. This made boaters refuse to leave the docks, even though we didn't have room. It took quite a few hours of creative boat tying, but we were able to fit all of the boats in. Quite a way to make a day go flying by I must say. Also, we have been having some illegal incidents at the Port, and just today I got to spend about 45 minutes tailing a guy who assaulted someone on our docks! It was rad! I followed him from about 30 feet back all the up Albert St. to almost Prideaux, so that the Police could come and arrest him. I was totally in my James Bond moment or something. At least if Tourism doesn't work, I can't be a spy! Anywho, I am finding that when things are really busy that I enjoy the pressure of running the docks, tying boats, squeezing people in and doing everything at a full gallop. Plus, the tips are actually pretty good. Tomorrow is the start of my weekend, and I can't wait to rest up. The picture that I posted is of our southern docks at night, and I belive that I took this shot either one day before or after the full moon. The clouds were great, and I thought they would make for a kind of cool picture. Cody is out.

Eight Weeks in...

Good afternoon peeps! All is well in the Port of Nanaimo this week, and time is flying! We have been filled nearly to capacity for the last two weeks, and things are only just getting going. I am really starting to catch on (you guys know how long it can take me too FINALLY understand something!) to just how busy we can get. We have had some Dodd's rushes that will keep us on the dock's for 3 or 4 hours, which can amazingly feel like no more than 20 or 30 minutes. We have had to a lot of dock managing to make everyone fit, and I actually thought back to Aggie's class, because managing ahead of time is not my specialty at all. We have had all sorts of "interesting" events, from fistfights to locking boat to the docks who haven't paid, to people requesting a channel opening so that they could land their private floatplane. Never a dull moment, and I am really enjoying helping people find what they are looking for in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, or where ever they are heading next. Weather is beautiful, hiking trails are plentiful, finally got back my Internet, and work is good. Can't complain about summer this year!