The Inside Passage Ferry, Boat Bluff Light
It was an extraordinary coincidence to walk up to the passenger deck on the ferry this morning and be greeted by David Hearle, the bicyclist, whom we last saw in Inuvik more than a month ago. We have now met him at three separate locations, two of them completely by accident on ferries, and the other because he was in the same campground as us. He seemed to be a bit road weary, and is heading back now towards Seattle and his plane ride home. He has a sore ankle, and the rear wheel on his bike is in bad shape.
That was just one of the interesting events today on the ferry ride. It was an early morning starting with waking at 4:00 am, breakfast, and checking in at the ferry dock at 5:30. Then a wait for an hour until we loaded and were away by 7:30, heading from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy through the inside passage of islands on the BC coast. At times the channel is very narrow, less than a kilometre across, and the scenery is excellent. The water is calm for the most part, as the trip is so sheltered. There are only two large crossings where the full Pacific swells were hitting us broadside. We are crossing the last of those now in Queen Charlotte Sound at the north end of Vancouver Island as we approach landfall.
We’re not quite sure why there is a difference in price on this ferry for the height of the vehicle. The deck was at least twenty feet high, and there only seemed to be one deck. All vehicles of all sizes were mixed in together. I guess it is a good way to make money for the ferry. We were glad we removed our car top carrier anyway, as it saved us over $350 to do that, and it wasn’t very hard to do.
The clouds hung load this morning, but were broken by patches of blue sky. During the day it was a mixture of weather, sometimes bright and sunny, though often cloudy with misty rain. Towards evening the weather cleared more. Twice today we saw whales, though they were far away and hard to identify the type, but they looked like humpbacks or similar sized whales from a distance. We passed a large barge loaded with logs and towed by a tugboat, a number of lighthouses, old village sites, and many waterfalls. Near the village of Bella Bella there were a number of fishing boats on the water, but we didn’t see many boats elsewhere.
Now the sun has set, and it was a very nice sunset. However it didn’t last long. Unlike the long lingering light of a prairie sunset, this was over in minutes. We will be docking in a little over an hour, and that will bring to a close a very relaxing day as we travelled south.