Coming soon: more ocean cruising

Travel and Leisure

Well, we're doing it again. That's right, taking another ocean cruise; two in fact. See, after the Alaskan cruise with Celebrity, we found that:

1. I didn't actually mind the onboard experience, and
2. She didn't get seasick

Virgin Voyages' Resilient Lady

Now, that said, not all ocean cruises and itineraries will yield the same results. With respect to the onboard experience, I think this has to do with the fact that we didn't have a large portion of "sea days", where you are literally stuck on the ship. Additionally, as we had chosen a mid-September date, there were virtually no children on board. And as far as the motion of the ocean goes, you can kind of pick itineraries that might not be as rocky as others. e.g. avoid going on long stretches of open ocean. Picking the right cabin location can help, but if you're in 10-metre waves going across the Atlantic, I think everyone is going to experience some nausea.

Anyhow, she received an email with what seemed like a pretty good deal for Virgin Voyages in the Caribbean. It wasn't an area that was on my radar, as I had spent a fair bit of time in the region as part of my sales territory before I retired. However, this itinerary goes to Cartagena and a number of islands that I have not been to. While there are four sea days, most notably two getting from San Juan to Cartagena, we are not spending days crossing from Miami as well.

Virgin has more inclusions

The next bonus, is that Virgin Voyages is not like other major cruise lines. First, they are an adult-only line... that's right, no kids. And then they are an "almost all-inclusive" line, where virtually all dining, tips and Wi-Fi are included. Yes you pay for drinks, but prices are reasonable, and you can buy a "bar tab" where they give you a bonus for upfront purchase. This is especially relevant for us, as she doesn't drink, and on other lines, I would be forced to pay for a drinks package for both of us regardless. The current sale actually gives a US$300 drink credit, so that's an even better deal. 

Virgin's "not-a-buffet" buffet

One of the things I didn't like on the Celebrity cruise, was the buffet. Sure there were plenty of options to eat, but it was chaos, with people going in all different directions, and sometimes a challenge to find an open table once you gathered your meal together. Of course, there was the main dining room that you could go to for breakfast and lunch, and we ate most of our dinners there. But on Virgin, there isn't a buffet or a main dining room. Instead they have The Galley, which is more like a Time Out Market, if you've ever been to one of those (there's one coming for Vancouver). And all of their "specialty" restaurants are included with your fare, except some that are specifically paired with alcohol, where an additional fee is involved. I'll write a follow-up on this cruise in February on our return.

Scandinavian itinerary

But she also recently came across a Scandinavian cruise that was on our list primarily due to the relatively high cost of travel in that region. Sure the Baltic Sea can act up, but since this itinerary departs/returns from Copenhagen, you don't have long stretches of open sea to cross. Most Baltic cruises will have you in and out of either Southampton or Amsterdam, both of which require extra sea days to get across the North Sea. This Princess route only has two sea days out of 12, so seemed like a good itinerary for us.

Costco Travel gives back store credit

We're not normally ones to us a travel agency, but after finding out that others got a better deal on their Alaska cruise through an agent, I did a quick google search. It turned out that Costco Travel offers good deals, as they either match or beat the direct booking price, but also include a Costco Card as part of your booking bonus. Actually, I found out from my ex-TA wife (not ex-wife) that often travel agencies are allocated blocks of rooms that are only released back to the cruise line closer to the sail date. In this case, we were able to book decent mid-ship oceanview rooms, where Princess direct only had fore or aft rooms (this factors into potential for seasickness). Ironically, one of the guys in my Background group on Tracker the other day said that his son works for Costco Travel. Because their agents are salaried employees, the commissions that are paid by the cruise lines mostly gets reimbursed back to the traveller via the Costco Card. And we got a small US$85 on-board credit too... woot!

This cruise with Princess isn't until 2026, and of course is a traditional cruise operator, not like Virgin Voyages. But stay tuned for an update on how that went as well.

Three fish tales

Just for fun / Retirement

Fishing in Vancouver is accessible and productive

The other day, I went fishing out off the mouth of the Fraser River with one of my mates from university. It was a great afternoon out on the water, and only 45 minutes from where the guide picked us up, we had rods in the water. It reminded me of some tall tales (all true, I swear), so I thought I'd jot them down for posterity's sake. I wrote them down on the Facebook, but this is a more easily accessed medium for me. Here goes.

We used to run an annual Sun Microsystems fishing trip with clients and partners, where we'd go up to the MV Salmon Seeker, operated by the Oak Bay Marine Group. We'd fly into this ex-research vessel, anchored deep in Kano Inlet, which was our floating accommodations, restaurant and base of operations. We'd then go out each day to fish in 20' Boston Whalers, and typically would catch many more fish in a day than you could keep.

This was back before I ever fished on the open ocean. Sure, I had caught a salmon with my buddy David, while up in Bella Coola, but that's not like this kind of fishing action. This was 15+ fish per day (per rod) with so much fight that I remember getting blisters on my hands! Most of the Chinook were in the 20 lb. range, but the guides wouldn't typically boat anything less than 30 lbs.

So fishing story #1, occurred on the first of these trips, back in 2000. On one day, we spotted a pod of orcas off in the distance. This was before I had a digital camera, so I quickly swapped my all-purpose lens for a 300mm, hoping to at least catch some dorsal fins or a breach. Meanwhile, our guide, JB, was casually clipping the line onto the downrigger when a Coho snatched the lure and tore the line right out of his fingers!

All of a sudden, a mother and her calf appeared about 50 metres off the back of the boat - they were chasing after the fish! JB frantically reeled the salmon in, literally surfing it along towards us. But mama and baby kept coming, and just as JB unceremoniously hoisted the fish into the back of the boat, the orcas submerged beneath our boat, only metres from the back!

The second of my fish tales occurred in 2006, on my 4th trip to the Charlottes. One of the distinctions of catching a large chinook, is the power of the pull on the rod, and the angle that the line goes into the water at. A coho often runs along the top, and doesn't have the mass to strip much line off the reel. A Tyee however, will start zipping the reel almost the moment it gets hooked, and the line will be at least a 45 degree angle.

So when my fishing partner hooked something and the reel started screaming, we got very excited! This was unlike any other salmon fight I'd ever encountered. After a fierce battle, the fish came close to the surface, and we saw a tall dorsal fin. Wha? (cue the Jaws music) "Salmon shark!" our guide exclaimed. This is not common - catching one of these on 20 lb. monofilament line. Salmon shark have sharp teeth and would normally cut through the wimpy mono easily, but the plug that it had taken, was jammed into the jaws.

While we did not want to keep/eat the shark, the guides did. So we hauled it onboard, and sized up our catch. at about 5.5 feet, it weighed about 95 lbs., easily the biggest fish we'd ever caught on these trips (stay tuned however). Little known fact, is that salmon sharks are actually from the same family as great whites and mako sharks, and you could easily see the resemblance. This was a small one, as they typically are 400+ lbs., but can grow up to 1,000 lbs. and 10 feet long!

Second useless trivia about sharks, is that their meat spoils quickly if you don't clean them immediately; something about how they urinate through their skin or something. To read more about these huge fish that most folks don't even know exist in our waters, have a look here on Wikipedia. Anyhow, so our guide ended up gutting it right there on the back of the boat, and all of the contents of its stomach and innards were dumped out onto the back of the boat. While washing away the blood, an octopus beak rolled along the deck... at least he had a tasty last meal!

Ok, final fish story. This was on my final trip to the MV Salmon Seeker, so a fitting one to end with. 

When we go on these fishing trips, the primary goal is to catch salmon, and lots of them. Your guide tries to get you big chinooks, and during that time you'll typically "limit out" on your coho. In a typical day on a two rod (sometimes 3) boat, you'll end up releasing 12-20 "cookie cutter" chinooks that are 20-25 lbs., keeping the big ones only, and hopefully catching your 2 cohos each. On the odd occasion, you get a bleeder, and since fish blood doesn't clot, you keep chinook even if they're under your Tyee keep range.

But once you've filled the boat with your limit of salmon, and if there's time left, you go get your halibut. Normally, the guides would take us to "Aisle 13"; a GPS marked spot where it is so easy to catch them, the sea floor must be covered in hali. e.g. It's like going to the supermarket, and you go down aisle 13 to get some fresh fish. You lower your baited hook (no flashy things or injured fish imitations required), and once it hits bottom, you start reeling up. A typical "chicken" will be 15-25 lbs., sometimes up to 35 or so. Each guy catches one, and you're “back to barn” for beers on the top deck.

Sometimes you are close to other boats

On this trip, we had limited out relatively early, so our guide took us to the monster hali spot. A further ride, and trickier fishing, but since we had the time, it seemed like a good idea. It was foggy, so the guide, Darren, pointed the nose of the boat at his GPS marker, and we blindly motored off. As we arrived there, the fog was lifting, and others must have limited-out on salmon as well, because there were a few other boats there. One of the other guides let us know that they had spotted a sea lion nearby, so be careful. Huh? Anyways, at Aisle 13, you catch them so quickly, the guides don't bother dropping anchor. Here, it can take an hour or so to link up with one of these "coffee tables", so we dropped anchor in about 200 feet of water.

Our guide set up the hali rods, one on each side of the boat, and we waited. And waited. And waited. This kind of fishing is boring. It might have been about an hour in when my fishing partner's rod started to twitch. You have to let these big halibut really take the bait before trying to set the hook, or you'll just end up losing them. After a brief dance with his rod, the hali decided that it liked my bait more, and started to nibble away at mine.

I pulled the rod out of the holder, and Darren is watching the tip, "wait... wait... wait... NOW!" I set the hook as hard as I could, and we had him. As I started battling this hali, we hear from the other boat, "SEA LION!" The chase was on, and not wanting to be its next meal, the big hali swam for its life, stripping line off the reel like crazy. Remember that we were anchored, so we couldn't chase this huge fish. Darren had the drag on the reel set high for these big hali, and yet it seemed as though it was stripping off line effortlessly. I looked at Darren, and he looked at me, as we watched the line getting closer and closer to running out. He said, "give me the rod". He took the rod, and put his thumb on the reel to slow it down slightly, and gave the drag a last click or two. The hali finally stopped, with what I estimate to be less than of foot of line left!

Monster from the Deep

With the sea lion no longer in pursuit, and the halibut exhausted from the chase, it was up to me to pull all that line back in. Despite the size, it was a relatively short amount of time to do the classic pull up on the rod, then reel down, pull up on the rod, then reel down, etc. Repeat about a hundred times. I think even our guide was surprised when we finally got this monster up to the surface. It was massive! I had heard the stories of fishermen bringing big hali onto their boats, only to have the fish revive itself and destroy the boat flopping around. Some shoot them, but there's always that tall tale of the fishermen that used the gun after they brought it onboard, and ended up putting a hole through the bottom of their boat! But Darren harpooned it, then hooked it up to a rope and bled it out before we brought it onboard.

That was my last full day of fishing up there, and the last time I'd see the MV Salmon Seeker. The Oak Bay Marine Group eventually sold the ship, and I would move on to other career opportunities. But it certainly was a great way to end my Queen Charlottes fishing career.

Note: On December 11, 2009, the British Columbia government announced that legislation would be introduced in mid-2010 to officially rename the Queen Charlotte Islands to the new name "Haida Gwaii". The legislation received royal assent on June 3, 2010, formalizing the name change.

Alaska cruising: a river cruiser's perspective

Travel and Leisure

The brochure shot for Celebrity Cruises to Alaska

(clicking on any photo opens a gallery view)

I have to admit, the idea of ocean cruising with the huge ships and massive crowds didn't appeal to me; we live in Vancouver where the scenery that we are immersed in isn't much different than Alaska, and I've been fortunate enough to experience much of what this area offers. 

A younger me

i.e. I've been ocean kayaking around the Gulf Islands, caught more salmon than our freezer could hold, seen and been too close to more bears than I can count, and have been chased by orcas while fishing in Haida Gwaii. But the father-in-law wanted to do a family trip, and the brother-in-law was excited to go on the Alaska itinerary, so we booked it. But one of the reasons why cruising wasn't on our radar, was because she gets motion sickness very easily, sometimes just riding in the passenger seat when we're driving on a winding mountain highway. That's why we have been doing European river cruises; you won't encounter any waves on those itineraries, and I don't think anyone would have issues with nausea on a river ship. But if you choose the right Alaska cruise, you can avoid long stretches of open ocean, as we did.

Stay "inside" for smoother ocean

Avoiding motion sickness: So our chosen itinerary and provider ended up being the 7-night Dawes Glacier cruise with Celebrity. As a previous travel advisor, she suggested that Celebrity was a good compromise of luxury and affordability (more on that later). Unlike river cruising, where we have found that the ships/experience does not vary much (we've been on affordable Gate 1 to upper/high end Uniworld), she indicated that there's considerable difference between say Carnival and say, Holland America. You don't get much choice on ports of call, if you want to depart and return to Vancouver, as we do/did, but the glacier that you visit does - either Dawes or Hubbard, but I'll get to that in a bit. But as you can see from the image to the right, our route took us on the "Inside Passage" and for the most part, avoided long stretches of open ocean.

The hard upsell: For those river cruisers who think they get too many Viking promo emails, you haven't yet experienced Celebrity's marketing machine. Sign up for drink package yet? How about premium Wi-Fi? Specialty dining anyone? Excursions (more on this below)? And you certainly don't want to miss out on future cruises, even though you haven't even taken this one yet. What seemed like a good deal when we booked the Alaska trip, quickly turned into the price of a good river cruise. When you consider that most folks opt for at least the Classic Drink Package and Wi-Fi, they're paying around $120+ more per night. Add that to what you thought was a decent price, and you're at what a good promo with Gate 1 or Emerald will get you. And you haven't even added any excursions at that point! We booked an "oceanview" room (a cabin without a balcony), but frequently got offers to upgrade to a higher class. The closer you got to the sailing date, the better the deals would get. Note: Sometimes the excursions sell out, so waiting for a better price for that whale watching tour might not be a great idea.  

We had a nice embarkation day

The crowds: Ok, let's fast forward to embarkation day. The beauty of an Alaskan cruise for us, is that it's only a 20-minute tube ride down to the docks, but the bliss ended there. See, there were three cruise ships embarking that day, so approximately 12,000 passengers were all trying to get through the US customs and boarding process in about 4 hours! I wish I had taken a picture of the boarding hall, with the massive lineups to get onto our ship. 

Passing under the Lions Gate Bridge

Contrast that to a river cruise ship, where the boarding and check-in process takes all of about 5 minutes. Luckily, the Celebrity app is pretty good, and you do 95% of the pre-boarding on your phone before arriving. It probably took an hour, from arrival at Canada Place, to getting into our room on deck 3. So we dropped our bags, and headed to the buffet for lunch. It was chaos! Because everyone is new, no one knows what is where, and there was no flow to the people searching for their meal. And then once you managed to fill your plate, now you had to jostle to find a table for your group! The main dining room was a much more civilised affair, but sometimes it would not be open for breakfast or lunch, and of course, did not have the variety of options that the buffet did.

The ship and rooms: I knew before we embarked that the Celebrity Solstice was getting long in the tooth, because I had watched some review videos on YouTube. As such, I was not disappointed with the room, and it was very clean. Since there's a couch/sitting area, it feels like a bigger room than what we've experienced on our river cruises. In actual fact, it was only 177 sq. ft. which compares quite similarly to the river cruise ships we've been on (e.g. Monarch Queen at 172 sq. ft.). Our room was comfortable, and despite not having a balcony, we did not seem to miss it; this itinerary is not one for sitting outside for any length of time. Bathroom was smaller than the one we've experienced on the G1 Monarch Queen, but still ample room to move around, versus our Uniworld one, where showering was a cramped affair.

I quite liked most of the ship's common areas, lounges and restaurants; in particular, there is a massive open air space in the centre of the ship with plenty of lounges and sitting areas on each floor. The Solstice was definitely showing her age, but was better than expected; the issues we saw were mostly due to the worn upholstery and frayed edges on cushions etc. This ship is due for a retrofit in 2025, and I am sure it will be a much nicer experience after some time in dry dock. But compared to a river ship, there were plenty of spaces to either join and meet new people, or have some quiet time apart from the crowds.

The main dining room was an oasis of calm

The food: I had set my expectations low for the food on board. We did not opt for any specialty dining, except Le Petit Chef, for our last evening. In general, the meals met or exceeded the low bar I had set - food was just ok to good, with the occasional really good dish. e.g. The beef short rib at Le Petit Chef was very good; not Michelin-star great, but very good nonetheless. Items like pizza and hamburgers were available almost all the time, but were average at best.

Desserts looked better than they tasted

Obviously the buffet had more variety that what a river cruise ship can offer, but because of the volume that the big ships need to create, food often sat for long periods. The good options to go for were the "stewed" ones; e.g. beef bourguignon, or the Indian curry chicken. Sometimes, they'd have a beef roast at the carvery station, but the cut was sometimes stringy and fatty. The main dining room offered some of the same breakfast items available at the buffet, with no improvement in quality, but served in a much more relaxed and refined way. Diners there were served by a plethora of waiters who seemed more interested in getting a 5-star review at the end of the cruise than delivering a quality meal experience. Overall, I'd rate the food/dining as a 3.5 whereas our river cruises would rank around a 4.5 (Emerald maybe 4ish, Uniworld and Gate 1 at 4.5).

The port of Skagway

Port towns and excursions: For those who have been on European river cruises, you really need to reset your expectations for the towns you'll visit on an Alaskan cruise. At only about 125 years old, the towns don't hold a candle to the old world charm of Europe; sure there'll be small museums and placards that go through some of the historic facts and information, but you won't find anything substantial. And because we live in Vancouver, most of the scenery is not that unique, but we did manage to see things that we'd not normally come across. 

The White Pass Railway

The towns themselves are tourist traps; the streets are lined with historic-looking buildings, but inside they were stuffed with T-shirt and diamond shops (who is buying all these diamonds?). Icy Strait Point was a non-event, and could easily have been a stop where you didn't need to get off. Thank goodness we took the pricey White Pass rail tour in Skagway, otherwise we'd have almost nothing to do there. Juneau was probably the biggest disappointment of the three larger towns, but we took an expensive bus ride to the Mendenhall glacier for some photos. 

Black bear in Ketchikan

The salmon run had pretty much finished by the time we arrived in Alaska, so there weren't any bears to be seen. Ironically, there was one cruise guest on our ship a few weeks back that caught this photo of a black bear right on Creek Street, perusing salmon from the boardwalk in Ketchikan! Unfortunately, it poured rain while we were there, as Ketchikan is probably the most interesting of the stops we had, and could have merited a couple of hours of walking around town if it weren't for the heavy rain. 

Mendenhall glacier and Nugget Falls

When I think of our European river cruises, and look back at past pictures, I am always amazed at the architecture and history of the old town areas. You'll not experience any of that in Alaska, where you need to look to nature to provide your excitement. Unfortunately, we see more wildlife in a weekend at our cabin in Point Roberts, WA, than we did on our entire weeklong cruise. But folks from other countries we talked to seemed to be amazed by what they were seeing, and marvelled at the vastness of BC and Alaska.

Our first sea day

Sea days: Unlike river cruising, where you pretty much wake up in a new town or city every day, Alaskan cruises typically have at least two full sea days, and then a couple of partial days as well. For our first one heading North, everything was still fresh and new to us, so we didn't mind being trapped onboard all day. 

Our last sea day

We took advantage of the extensive activities sheet to keep ourselves occupied, and of course, managed to get some napping in. The sea got a tiny bit rough going up that evening, but nothing that was of any consequence. On the way back however, there was a bit of a storm that blew in, and we were rocking pretty good until we got back into the protected waters East of Vancouver Island. Even as a seasoned ocean fisherman, I found that I was feeling a bit off that morning, and took a Gravol when I got up.

Building-sized "growlers" in Endicott Arm

The weather and ice: One of the things that Alaska cruises risk, is the high chance of rain and inclement weather. Skagway is literally named "The North Wind Blows", and Ketchikan is known for two things: salmon and rain. Despite leaving Vancouver in shorts and t-shirts on a typical mid-September day, you need to pack layers and waterproof outerwear. We arrived in Skagway to cloudy skies and howling wind. When we asked our guide if the wind would have been diminished if we came in July or August, he said that it can blow like this at any time of the year. 

Welcome to rainy Ketchikan

We didn't really have a choice for timing anyways, as we wanted to sail when there would be no children on board, and the brother-in-law's work schedule only permitted this sailing date. On the day we sailed up Endicott Arm, there was so much ice that the captain could not get us close enough to get a clear view of the Dawes Glacier, for fear of a Titanic-like event. I think Hubbard Glacier is more "exposed", so potential to get up close to that one is probably better. Finally, we arrived in Ketchikan to torrential rain, and despite wearing waterproof Gore-tex jackets, we could only manage about an hour of walking around town. It poured rain for our last sea day, and seas were rough getting back to the Inside Passage, so folks weren't inclined to be sitting outside anyways. On European river cruises, you can pick good times of year for weather, but there's always the risk of low or high water.

Curling anyone?

Entertainment: This is where there's no comparison between ocean and river cruising; there's something going on all the time on an ocean vessel. Each night, we'd review the sheet left in our room, and pick the activities that we'd attend while we were on the ship. This is something that river cruisers should be doing as well; I read a post recently on the river cruise FB group where a guest was disappointed that the morning tour was disappointing - you are in charge of planning your day. e.g Trivia in the Sky Lounge at 10 am, then down for some axe throwing in the Grand Foyer before lunch. Some afternoon music trivia back in the Sky Lounge before heading back to the foyer for some live music. The Solstice Theater was huge, and we'd attend briefings with the onboard naturalist, and return later that evening for Jeremy Tan's amazing magic show. 

On our final evening, there was the impressive Rock City show, featuring classic rock anthems that everyone knows. Sure, it doesn't have the polish of a Las Vegas show, but remember that this is on the back of a ship! I know it's not possible to pull off that kind of event on a river cruise ship, so you can't really compare the two, but some of the river cruise entertainment is pretty lame.

The smallest chef around

The Verdict? It depends: So if you've read this far, you've probably heard some mixed messages - there's good and not so good on our Alaskan ocean cruise. Overall, I would say that the shipboard experience exceeded my expectations, given the somewhat low bar I had set. For those coming onto the Solstice expecting a shiny, new ship would probably be disappointed, but I was fine with it. Service was great, and you never passed a crew member without them greeting you. So except for the food being better, and the crowds (which you can't do anything about), I'd say I came away with a positive on-ship experience.

I'll preface the on-shore experience from two perspectives: local and non-local. As Vancouverites who have been active outdoors, I think an Alaskan cruise is a pass, unless you want to use the ship merely as an easy 7-night getaway (which some do over and over again). For those that aren't from around here, then I'll tentatively say that this cruise is worth considering, but you'll need to fork out a lot of cash for excursions to get away from the tourist trap towns. 

Vancouver is a great place to visit for a few days

Also, consider sailing out of Vancouver rather than Seattle; not only is it a shorter trip on the sea days, but I think most would agree that Vancouver merits a few days of exploring as a pre- or post-cruise extension. You can also tick off some of the things off the list here versus using up valuable cruise time to do them; e.g. ocean kayaking, whale watching, or going to see the grizzlies on Grouse Mountain. I'll leave you with the the photo above that I took yesterday (Sept. 24, 2024) from the Spanish Banks beach area, as a teaser for Vancouver's natural beauty.

At last, a new Land Rover Defender!

Automotive

When I was young, I was captivated by the Land Rover. That’s all you called them by back then; sure, they referred to them as Series I or II, based on their production year, but in the olden days, there weren’t any other LR models to choose from. But when they came out with the more family-oriented Discovery, they needed a name for the original, which became the Defender. Good enough for Lara Croft, Sir Paul McCartney and Sean Connery, the Defender is an automotive legend.

Google “Camel Trophy” and you’ll see the Land Rover Defender going to places that no vehicle was ever intended to go. This is the image of the Land Rover that I have had in the back of my mind for decades. I read a quote somewhere that the Land Rover Defender is to the countryside what the black cab is to London. The Queen had one, Sir Winston Churchill had one and Sir David Attenborough uses one for his adventures. It's the ultimate iconic British vehicle.

Problem is, you can’t/couldn’t get them in Canada, due to North American safety standards. But you could bring them into Canada under the 15-year import rule. So you’d see them on the used sites, and there were companies that would import Defenders for you on spec. But these really were a labour of love, as you’re starting with a minimum 15-year old vehicle. And remember that this is when I needed a daily driver, so the Defender was just not a practical fit. They’re also loud, slow, and uncomfortable; leather seating and air conditioning? You must be joking. 

That’s why I drove the Discovery instead; first a Series I, then as that one got long in the tooth, a Series II. Relatively luxurious inside, you had all the modern amenities that you'd expect from other manufacturers like power windows, air-conditioning, power sunroof, and leather seats.

And the underlying 4x4 mechanicals were the same on the Disco as they were on the Defender, so I was getting all of the off-road capabilities, but without the drawbacks of the aging Defender design. I did actually put my Disco through a fair bit of 4x4ing when I'd go off camping & fishing in the high country near Kamloops. When I needed service, I'd take my Discos to a shop that specialised in "Landys", and Martin also ran a Defender import business. I'd always drool over the fresh imports that were there when I'd drop or pick up my LR, and it would restart the mental gymnastics of whether I could justify a 15+ year old Defender 110. I loved my Discos, but after 20 years of driving a Disco, she suggested a less ponderous vehicle, so I begrudgingly let the Disco II go.

Just before the time that my Disco run was coming to an end, Land Rover stopped making the Defender! Yep, it was the end of the line for the iconic British 4x4. Was it time to start seriously thinking about bringing in an import? But with the last Defenders rolling off the production line, Defender aficionados were driving up the price of these used ones to astronomical levels. Oh, well.

But wait... the Defender story doesn't end there. Land Rover re-designed a brand new Defender starting from scratch, retaining some of the iconic styling of the original. It. Looks. Awesome. If you're not into Defenders, you probably won't notice all of the little things that they've "kept" from the original design, but they're there. But that's where the similarities end, as this isn't an old, clunky 120 hp Land Rover. No, this one comes equipped with a turbo-charged inline-6 cylinder engine, supplemented by an electric supercharger, producing 395 hp, and 406 lb-ft of torque! Are you thinking, yeah but old must be better than new? Think again! This video shows a head-to-head between the last production model 110 vs. a new Defender 110; you'll see that in each case, new is better than the old. It's been winning all sort of awards, including MotorTrend's SUV of the year. 

Kitted out with all of the modern tech amenities and more, there's very little else you might want in a Defender. The one I got is called a First Edition, named because, well, it's the first model of this new Defender line. It's got a few more bells and whistles than I really wanted (e.g. refrigerated console, 3rd row seating and 22" rims), but the local LR dealer had a used one in Indus Silver (pictured in the Frankfurt Car Show above) that I really liked. While 22" wheels wouldn't have been my first choice, there’s a fantastic 4-season tire called the BF Goodrich Trail Terrain TA, which come in the right size for this wheel, and not the 20” ones. Will I be putting the new Defender through the same type of 4x4 tests that I did with my Discos? Time will tell, but for now, just try wiping the smile off on my face.