Flying from Mexico to Canada: A Rural Baja Medical Clinic to a busy Vancouver Seaplane Base

I recently flew a Flying Samaritan’s trip to San Quintin Mexico (about 1/3 of the way down the Baja peninsula) and then the day after the return home, I flew to Canada on a business trip.  It was a lot of flying and made for a few nice photos on the way.  The contrast was striking, from the poor rural area in the rather barren coastal hills of Baja California to the bustling city of Vancouver in the deeply forested coast of Canada.

On the right is my track, from the Delorme InReach satellite tracking device I carry.  It transmits my position every 10 minutes for safety, which is cool thing, and also lets me send short text messages from the plane when the cell phone isn’t doing the trick (the captain of my plane allows me to use the cell phone in flight for texting).

The Flying Sams trip was special this time because I was able to stop in San Luis Obispo and pick up my daughter Belyn.  She helped in the eye clinic this time while I counted pills and help fix a broken generator.  It was great having her along and I’m glad she was able to get away from school for the three days it takes to do a clinic.  We ran together on the endless beach at the hotel and had street tacos and beer with the gang on Friday night.

The flying up to Canada (via Bellingham) is a challenge this time of year, but I lucked out with OK weather in the north, with some weather in Oregon I was able to fly over. I had to pick up some business clients at the airport in Vancouver (I drove there) and had some extra time so I walked around the city and had lunch watching the seaplanes land take off at the seaplane base.

It was strange to think it wasn’t that many hours earlier that my plane and I were at a dirt airstrip in Mexico.  As much of a pain it is to deal with customs, eAPIS (international flight manifests), etc., I am thankful that I am pretty much able to fly where I want, when I want, weather permitting.

Here is a photographic journey of the trip, from south to north.