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Comment by emptybits | Hacker News Reader

I know there will still be prop noise galore but this is great. I lived in Coal Harbour across from their water runways for years. It was my every-morning wakeup call whether I needed it or not.

Aside: If you are in the Vancouver area, I recommend taking one of these flights, internal combustion or not. To/from Victoria, for example. The views are just stunning, especially over the Gulf Islands -- better than any high elevation or large plane window seat can give you. As a longtime resident, it's still goosebump gorgeous.

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Amusingly the prices of the seaplane (if you get the super-saver version) ends up being $180 for two vs. $107 for two people (or 110 vs. 90 for one)[1] which is a pretty depressing highlight of just how overpriced BC Ferries is (possibly due to running such large vessels).

1. Both of these assume you're boarding the ferry with a vehicle which I think is a fair assumption given how insanely inconvenient the ferry terminal is.

These flights are awesome! I had to go to the island earlier this year and wanted to avoid the ferries at all costs.

Like you said, that region is goosebump gorgeous. The flights are fairly cheap, too, all things considered.

I've started using Harbour Air for my trips over to Vancouver Island quite frequently over the past few years. At one point I did the calculation and taking the floatplane ends up saving me 3-4 hours of travel time, all for about an additional cost of $70 (versus taking the bus out to the ferry and being a walk on), even less if I consider that my trips are frequently Friday evenings and I end up having to grab dinner on the way or on the ferry.

right! its way better. Especially in these times where the ferries have limited capacity. It simply isn't worth the hassle.

The location of the planes is really convenient, too.

I've always hated the ferries anyway, but now that I've seen the light of Harbour Air, there's no going back.

It was fine when they were allowing people to stay in their vehicles on the lower car deck and when it was nice enough to just go sit on the sun deck. But I was officially done with the ferries when I went over in October, the number of people on the ferry coupled with the idiots over at Transport Canada making people leave their cars meant it was far to crowded for me to feel safe.

The terminal being incredibly convenient makes the flight even more justified. I'd much rather take the Canada Line and then walk for a few minutes than having to line up early for a standing room only bus that goes out to the ferry terminal.

A seaplane flight over the west coast of Vancouver Island from bases in Tofino or Gold River is a wonderful and affordable flight-seeing excursion as well (around $500/hour total for 3 passengers).

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