Vancouver Island Short Film Festival

Coming very soon is the 5th year for the Vancouver Island Film Festival. This festival is sponsored by the Nanaimo Arts Council. All entries tend to feature local actors, writers, directors, musicians and film technicians. The films must be 10 minutes or less.

The festival will stretch out over two nights in 2010, February 12th and February 13th both at 7pm at Vancouver Island University Theater. Awards will be presented after the February 13th showing.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at any of the locations below!

The Nanaimo Arts Council (located at North Town Center - Rutherford)

Falconer Books (located at Port Place Shopping Center)

The House Of Indigo (Commerical Street location)

The Nanaimo Art Gallery (located at Vancouver Island University)

For more information please contact admin@visff.com or call 250-729-3947.
You can also check out http://visff.com/ for more information !

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Vancouver Island Organic/Local Food.

I've always been inquisitive about where the food I eat comes from. I found some useful and informative links on local and organic food on Vancouver Island - enjoy!

Island Farm Fresh

Island Farmers Alliance

Spud

Saltspring Seeds Co.

Read, learn, grow!

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Tourism Future for Vancouver Island

With the recent decision by China to approve Canada as a destination for travellers could potentially bring millions of dollars to Canada through tourism.

Under the Harper government, ties have not been so warm - with Harper travelling to China only recently. It had been 5 years since a Canadian Prime Minister visited the country. But with the thawing of the relationship comes a probable influx of Chinese travellers for the Olympics, which will most likely bring plenty of foreign visitors to Vancouver Island.

Interestingly enough, international student enrolment is up 35% from last year at Vancouver Island University.

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Vancouver/Vancouver Island Float Planes grounded.

Due to security threats during the Olympics, all passenger float plane charter sight-seeing tours will be banned.

On the plus side, a security screening portal will be opening on Saltspring Island to passengers from the Gulf Islands fly into Vancouver without the Nanaimo detour.

The ban will be a crushing blow to the float plane companies revenue during this time and to the wonderful opportunities to promote the beauty that is Vancouver Island.

The ban will most likely lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost. Both Westcoast Air and Harbour Air spoke to the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit and offered to fly routes that do not interfere with Olympic Venue airspace, but no dice.

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Black Bears on Vancouver Island

Recently my mother had a bit of a scare when she realized a juvenile black bear was in her dog run. The bear got spooked by the dogs and immediately ran up a tree where it remained for a few hours. We called the conservation office and they came out to see if they could do anything, seems the bear was tagged and had already been relocated. The neighbours apple tree with it's rotten apple's on the ground at attracted the great beast.

British Columbia has the largest black bear population in North America
and Vancouver Island has the densest population of bears in the entire province. Black bear attacks on human's are very rare - in most cases it is a female protecting her cubs, otherwise they tend to just retreat when confronted by a human.

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Cape Scott (Northern Tip of Vancouver Island)

So I am making a tentative plan to hike Cape Scott

I've done some minor research and it looks like June - September is the best time to plan a hike, due to the likelihood of a very muddy trail otherwise.

Here are some interesting tidbit facts on the Cape Scott area:

- Originally the Tlatlasikwala, Nakumgilisala and Yutlinuk natives occupied the area.
- Although there are fresh water sources, it is recommended that you boil all water you consume.
- Black bears and cougars are frequently seen and it is important that you know how to deal with a run in. Bear bells or pepper spray are a good idea.
- Holberg is the closest accessible town. En route to Cape Scott keep an eye out for the "Shoe Tree"

Depending on the weather conditions these are some different trails with different distances that you can hike.

Destination:	Kilometers (1 km=0.621 miles)	Hours of hiking
San Josef Bay	2.5	3/4
Eric Lake	3.0	1
Fisherman River	9.3	3
Hansen Lagoon	14.7	5
Nissen Bight	15.0	5 1/2
Nels Bight	16.8	6
Experiment Bight	18.9	6 1/2
Guise Bay	20.7	7
Cape Scott	23.6	8

If any of my readers have taken on the Cape Scott area, information and stories are greatly appreciated!

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