Comox charter guide captures stunning photo of cruise ship at sunset

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WATCH: A series of videos from charter guide Pete Mathews showing a cruise ship at sunset at Comox. 

A local charter guide in Comox has captured amazing pictures and videos of a cruise ship at sunset.

Pete Mathews, the owner-operator of Wild West Sport Fishing, took the colourful shots at around 9 p.m. Wednesday night. He was on a fishing trip on 27-foot aluminum sport fishing boat with a couple of friends. The group saw the cruise ship when Mathew’s vessel was just off Kitty Coleman Provincial Park in the Strait of Georgia.

“The weather kind of moved in and there was a little bit of a lightning storm and we were packing the gear up and starting to head back and there was a cruise ship running north,” Mathews said.

“We went over to check it out because it had a big screen on it so we were kind of interested in what was on the screen.”

The group pulled up beside the boat and then followed it.

“It was pretty cool because we were doing about 18 miles an hour beside the cruise ship and I guess the skipper must have wanted to have some fun too so he put the cruise ship up at full speed so it started to go faster,” Mathews said.

After that, Mathews stopped and saw the sun going down.

“All of a sudden there was that image and I just grabbed my phone and that was the first picture I took,” Mathews said.

He has taken a professional photography course but still said it was a lucky catch due to the purple glow of the sky and the water.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Mathews said.

He posted one of his pictures on Facebook and has been getting a steady stream of likes and comments.

Pete Mathews posted this photo of a cruise ship near Comox to Facebook. Photo Credit: Pete Mathews.

Pete Mathews posted this photo of a cruise ship near Comox to Facebook. Photo Credit: Pete Mathews.

“It’s the kind of image you can spend your whole life trying to capture and not find and all of a sudden it’s like ‘boom,’ you’re in the moment. It just happened to be the perfect lighting and everything was just perfect. It was instinctual really taking it. I didn’t even think about it. It was just like ‘wow I got to capture that. What am I seeing?'”

Mathews said while he took some unique pictures, his fishing trip was a regular one that included prospecting and publicity fishing to see where the fish were. The groups he takes out are used to seeing cruise ships in the area.

“It was probably the best night of fishing we’ve had all year,” Mathews said.

“We sort of stuck around a little later than everybody because we brought some food out to barbecue so we ended up staying out there for dinner and stayed out there as late as we could. So all the other boats had gone in.”

While fishing is part of his business, Mathews said he wants to expand to include grizzly bear tours in the fall as fishing closures around Vancouver Island has created some challenges. A name change for his company is also in the works.

Here are more photos of the cruise ship from Mathews: 

 

Alexa HuffmanAlexa Huffman

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