Why America Can’t Conquer Canada

Donald Trump’s nonsensical threats are an attempt to distract from his own country’s self-destruction

By Stephen Marche

Published in MacLean's January 9, 2025 

Due to Canada's rules w.r.t. Facebook and publishing news, sharing the link below seems to be the only way for me to share this enlightening editorial. It's worth 5 minutes of your time.

https://macleans.ca/society/canada-51st-state-america/

For those unfamiliar with MacLeans, it's a Canadian left-of-centre publication noted for facts and truth; similar to TIME, bu a little more centrist.

Cruising with Virgin Voyages (with links)

Travel and Leisure

Ok, so how was it you ask? In a word, awesome. You could stop reading right now if you wanted to, but I'll document some of our experience here for those that might be interested in a future cruise with Virgin Voyages (VV). Since we've only been on one other cruise (with Celebrity) that's all we have to compare against, but from what we know, the other operators are pretty similar to Celebrity. Virgin on the other hand, seems like they try to do everything differently than the others; the no children allowed thing is definitely one that works for us.

Why Virgin Voyages?

Let's start with why we booked with VV in the first place. After our Alaska cruise with Celebrity, we were both open to the idea of cruising again, and she wanted to get away for the winter. As we always do, both of us subscribe to various travel deal emails and websites, and this offer came across her inbox. This particular cruise attracted us because it started/ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico; other cruises will make the long crossing from Florida.  It also had Cartagena and other islands that we both hadn't been to, so that was enticing. VV had a special promo (there is always something being offered), but this one seemed pretty good: free upgrade to "Sea Terrace" (balcony), with a "Lock-It-In" rate of around $210 CDN per night (that's US$150 for those down South). 

Unlike other cruise operators that nickel-and-dime you to death, VV has way more inclusions, as this price included tips, Wi-Fi and ALL the dining venues. While we don't have a lot of experience with ocean cruising, from what we've seen, this is pretty good pricing.

Drinks onboard

Decent juice and soft drinks included

VV doesn't offer drink packages, but has "bar tab" options that you can pre-pay that will give you additional bonus for bevvies. e.g. If you buy $300, you'll get $50 bonus tab. You can read more about the bar tab options here. Also, the prices for drinks are almost 1/2 of what you end up paying à la carte with other operators; e.g. a Heineken beer was US$7, with no additional tax (if at sea) or tip. I think a beer was US$10 on Celebrity, plus mandator 20% tip. So before actually stepping foot on the ship, value for dollar with VV is already very good!

With the RFID sailor bands we wore, buying drinks was a 2-second affair, versus the paper-based chit that I had to sign every time I ordered a drink on Celebrity. Additionally, soda pop was available from the fountain machines free of charge, whereas Celebrity charged for cans of Coke etc. And while the Celebrity juice machine was free, it was heavily watered-down, versus the juice on VV was very good. As a self-proclaimed coffee snob, I was ok with the drip coffee on VV from the machines in The Galley; I had to supplement the weak coffee on Celebrity with my Starbucks VIA instant pouches that I bring everywhere.

Dining venues

The Wake steakhouse was very nice

This is an area where Virgin excels. The traditional cruise operators usually offer the main dining room and buffet as the only two included options for dinner with the base fares, and higher categories of rooms and/or extra charges allow you to eat at the specialty restaurants. With VV, all of the restaurants are included, except one dinner show ($50 for Another Rose) where entertainment and "continuous" drinks are offered.

Even The Galley offers a different take on the traditional buffet experience. You can opt for table service by raising the flag on the menu, and your à la carte selections will be delivered to your table. This failed on me the first morning when I ordered a traditional eggs n' bacon breakfast. After 30 minutes of waiting, I gave up and grabbed a toasted bagel; I think this was an anomaly, as we did not see this happen to others. Most of the kiosks offered a grab-n-go option (e.g. breakfast croissant), but if you ordered something, they'd give you a vibrating puck to alert you when your choice is ready. The only downside to this model, is that if you didn't manage to make a reso for dinner, there was only one entrée offered at The Galley for your meal choice.

Filet Mignon at The Wake

The five restaurants on board offered a great variety of cuisine, and the food was absolutely incredible. I'm not going to review each one, but my comment to others has been that the filet mignon at The Wake would have been a $100 meal at a steakhouse in Vancouver. You do need to make reservations, which start long before you get on board, so that is something to plan on. We typically ate at the early seating around 6 pm, so that we had time to get to the 8 pm show.

Gunbae Korean BBQ

At Gunbae, the Korean barbeque, dinner takes longer than the rest, but is a fun experience that we found worthwhile; don't plan on getting to the early show after. The only restaurant that we didn't go to was the Test Kitchen. The menu was too eclectic for her tastes, and from what I saw, we didn't miss anything. Besides the meals at the other restaurants were so amazing, we got to try them most of them twice (three times at Extra Virgin); we cancelled our second night at Gunbae, as the menu was too seafood-heavy for her. I would have liked one more night at Razzle Dazzle just to try the fried chicken.

The Pizza Place for casual eats

Then in addition to the not-a-buffet Galley and the dinner restaurants, there are a handful of other places to get small bites, like made-to-order zas at The Pizza Place (decent), or the Sun Club Café for beef short rib bao buns (delicious) or poke bowls. We never got a chance to try the Greek food offered late afternoon at The Dock, for fear of filling up too much before dinner.

Of course there were cold treats too, with the Lick Me Till Ice Cream joint, and the frozen juice popsicles available (with or without champagne) at Pop Star in The Galley. The burgers at The Galley Burger Bar were actually pretty good, and a couple of times, we didn't get a chance to eat lunch on shore, and split one once we got back to the ship. Bento Baby always had fresh cut fruit options set out in reusable bento boxes, as well as sushi rolls (just ok) later in the day; other bento boxes were placed at the entrance to The Galley with other grab n' go choices.

We did have a couple of disappointing lunches there when she and I had not-very-good meals from Noodle Around and Let's Taco Bout It, respectively. The made-to-order eggs lineup for breakfast at the Burger Bar was also usually pretty long, but you could get what we call "Fast Track" (scrambled eggs meal) at one of the other kiosks. Aside from that, and my first morning waiting for my order, we didn't really have any other negative meal experiences on VV.

Ship spaces

The main pool was rarely full

The first thing that regular cruisers will notice is the distinct VV overall ship design. Modern-looking, all four ships in the Virgin fleet are identical, and lack the large open atrium that most other ships feature. Instead, the ship has many smaller venues and spaces, each with a unique style and flair.

In the afternoons and evenings, performers play and/or sing different styles of music in these areas, and you simply choose the one that suits your style. Since VV is so new, their ships look modern and inviting, versus some of the older ships that other operators haven't updated recently. Some complain about the size of the pool, but aside from the parties (see below), we never saw the pool near capacity.

Our room seemed spacious due to the design and light colours used, but the bathroom was pretty small; we've had larger ones on our river cruises. The room had modern features as well as the standard inclusions like fridge, hair dryer and on-demand TV. I particularly liked the "Bimini Beach Vibes" music channel, which hit my 80s genre on the nose! The remote controlled curtains and lights only seemed to work if you had opened or closed them with the app on the tablet. e.g. if you had turned on the lights with the switch, you couldn't turn them off with the tablet. As noted, we were upgraded to the Sea Terrace room as part of the promo for our booking, yet we did not use it that often. It was often too hot, and the other parts of the ship received better air flow to keep us cool (the 7th floor deck with the comfy blue couches is recommended). The signature red hammock was not that comfortable, as it tended to push your shoulders in, so wasn't great for extended periods of time.

Entertainment and parties

Another way that VV excels is the shows that they offer. Unlike other operators that will run a given show twice (early and late seatings), VV will offer a few nights of each, in smaller venues than the massive 2,000 seat theatres on other ships. As such, performers are often on stages that are literally right in front of you, sometimes brushing by as they transition between dances (e.g. Persephone). We only saw one performance that was average (Mind Mangler), and the rest were good to outstanding. We particularly enjoyed Lola's Library and Persephone - both offer dancing and acrobatics that you might see at a Cirque du Soleil show.

Staff couldn't pour champagne fast enough

We also enjoyed a couple of the party nights on board, specifically Let's Set Sail and Scarlet Night. On the first night, as you sail away (technically we were still docked), champagne pours freely for about 2 hours at the main pool, as the Happenings Cast dances and gets everyone moving. It was a great way to meet some of our fellow sailors, and swill some cheap bubbles.

By the time Scarlet Night rolled around, most folks had met new friends and despite not getting free drinks, the mood was electric! Sailors from all walks of life were dancing in the pool or swaying on the deck. There were other theme nights (PJ party and Klub Rubiks) that we did not attend, and we thought they missed an opportunity by not hosting these events by the pool as well.

In general, I think the demographics on VV swing a little younger than other operators, but can't say for sure, as we're comparing against an Alaskan itinerary with Celebrity, which definitely attracts a different audience than the Caribbean. Additionally, VV seemed quite popular with gay cruisers; guys we met and got to know that have done 12 VV trips said that the ratio can be even as high as 50%. With these factors combined, I think that the sailors on Virgin were more fun than other operators, but obviously a subjective opinion.

Staff and service

We found that pretty much everyone that worked on board was friendly and attentive. Our cabin steward was available almost immediately; select "Ice" on the tablet in the room and a few minutes later, he'd show up. The service we received in the restaurants was great, with the one exception I had in The Galley waiting for eggs. Any time we were in port, the crew was busy maintaining the ship; re-lacquering the wooden staircases, cleaning the decks and making sure the common spaces were in tip-top shape. By contrast, our Celebrity ship was in dire need of maintenance; sure it was old compared to the Resilient Lady, but some things didn't need to wait until dry dock to take care of. We did have one substantial issue that was not handled well by the Shore Things staff (refund request for an excursion that went horribly wrong), but other than that, 5 stars for the ship staff. 

One thing that we found out about late in the cruise, was that the Happenings Cast (that replace the traditional Cruise Director and Entertainment Coordinator) engage with sailors on a more one-on-one level, and sometimes invite selected individuals/couples to private parties and mini-events. This typically only happened if you met and chatted up one or more of the cast early on during the cruise, and then randomly, a note will be slid under your door inviting you to some special event. It doesn't happen a lot, and the couple that we met that have done 12 cruises have never been invited to one of these. We did meet however, a couple who had bid on a Mega Rockstar stateroom, and so had access to services and spaces that the rest of us $150-a-night sailors didn't have. It also gave them access to free drinks and services like laundry and some more things that standard Rockstar sailors. Both Rockstar categories get a Rockstar Agent assigned to them, which is basically like a butler/concierge. Need a dinner reservation? No problem. Change your booking for something? Taken care of. While these services come at a hefty price, this might be something that certain folks are looking for.

The Resilient Lady sails away from San Juan

Anyhow, as you can probably tell, we think VV is a great ocean cruising operator for the reasons stated above. Yes, the Caribbean had more desirable ports of call than our Alaska cruise, but I'm not comparing destinations here. We would be looking to book again with Virgin, but with only four ships, their options and frequency for places we want to go are somewhat limited. 

One last parting note, is that if you want to make the most of a Virgin Voyages cruise, at least one person in your party needs to be somewhat smartphone savvy. Everything you do, from booking restaurants, to seeing who's playing at the Dock and almost everything else is done through the VV app. And as mentioned, room things are done using your tablet, like requesting more towels or changing the channel on your TV.

Stock photo appearances

Retirement Life 

Now I can say that I've appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!

Early on in my post-retirement alternate career, I pretty much took any gigs that my agent sent my way. A few times, she asked me to do some stock photo (and video) shoots, and they paid as good or better than a day of background work, so I thought, why not? The downside is that your photos (and videos) can live in the ether forever, and folks who pay $36 can pretty well use your image for anything. Who remembers the episode of Friends where Joey gets used for the STD poster? 

The first one was for a government of Canada tourism entity known as Destination Canada. They gather all sorts of photos and videos that are available to use for free, when promoting tourism in conjunction with Canada's agencies. What we were working on that day, was a set of images that was specific to disabilities; i.e. that Canada is a great place to visit for those with physical challenges. I met Clement that morning, who is totally blind, and would be my partner for the day. We went all over downtown, shooting stills and video at many of Vancouver's recognisable places.

We started at the harbour, by the cruise ship terminal, and slowly worked our way around the sea wall to the Vancouver aquarium, where a staffer there introduced Clement to the different textures of the undersea creatures in the touch tank. After that session, we moved downstairs to the large fish tanks, and we took a number of shots down there.

Surprisingly, we'd be standing in front of the huge glass aquarium, and the director would say, "Point at the fish" to which I'd reply, "you do know he's blind, right?" If you haven't been to the Vancouver Aquarium, it's worth a visit when you come to town. We took our lunch break at a great sushi joint, which also got used for more photos and then we headed to Granville Island.

There's a lot of neat stuff to see for visitors at what is really no longer an island, and we took a bunch of shots near the famous Stuart's Bakery. Again, the director had me pointing out all of the nummy snacks to the blind guy. If you don't get sucked in by the amazing treats there, Lee's Donuts is just around the corner in the market area.
After our tour through the market, it was time to go kayaking. Cool.

But what they didn't tell me up front, was that we were going to be in singles... wait what? The blind guy is going kayaking on his own? So the camera teams get into their double kayaks, and the two of us hop into the singles. Apparently Clement has been kayaking before? Anyhow, so for the whole time, I'm giving him instructions... "more to the left, now straight. A little to your right". All the while, boats are going past along the busy False Creek, while the team captures our stills and video. "Synchronise your paddles!" What? But we managed to do it.

Anyhow, there was more to our day than I've detailed here, but suffice it to say that it was a pretty fun day. I never actually expected to see any images used, nor any of the video segments. But one day, we're sitting in the lineup for a ferry, and my wife is scrolling on her iPhone, when an Expedia ad with me kayaking scrolls by! Not long after, WestJet teamed up with Destination Canada too, and I was appearing on Facebook and Instagram feeds everywhere. And then there's the time I'm watching the morning news, and a commercial for the Trans Canada Trail pops up, with me paddling across the screen.

The second stock photo shoot I did was 1/2 day gig with a local photographer, who then takes his shots and sells them to iStock or whomever. It was a pretty easy day, unlike the one above, as we just stayed in place at the location all afternoon. As part of the paid gig, Shannon would give anyone copies of the headshots he'd take (that would get sold), so it was a good deal. And I thought, who in the world is going to use my iStock shots?

Well, if you read my past blog posts, you might have seen that The Good Doctor did; it's a pretty strange and coincidental story, so worth a read. Go ahead. I'll wait. If you go onto iStock and search for "Asian male doctor", you'll get thousands of results - 88,091 to be exact; the fact that someone in the art department picked me, a guy who plays a doctor on The Good Doctor, would randomly pull my photo is hard to fathom, but it happened.

Which makes this next one even stranger. So my brother texts me one morning, with a screenshot, saying, "hey, is this you?" Like he doesn't recognise his own brother! It was a small appearance on the opening monologue of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Let me tell you, I got more than a few folks messaging me to say that they saw me on TV. But if you try iStock search "confused Asian man" I actually do appear on the first page of results. Here's the segment from The Tonight Show:

But it doesn't end there. Recently on the set of "Wild Cards", a Canadian TV series, I'm doing some random background scene at a golf club. As the crew is setting up the shot, the 1st Assistant Director, Caroline, walks by and says, "Richard. There's a portrait of you hanging in our studio." Is this another déjà vu moment? She goes on to say, "There's a Wall of Heroes at the set back at the studio, and you're on it." Ok, so I have worked a couple of days this season on Wild Cards, but haven't done any studio days. The irony of it, is that I'm supposed to be dead - i.e. a fallen hero. But there I was, living and breathing at the country club that day... and at the dog show on another episode!

Where will I appear next? Who knows? Let me know if you see me on a random commercial or social media feed!

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 use 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.