Wednesday, July 30


We switched to BC Ferries at Prince Rupert and spent our longest day at sea, fifteen hours from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, on northern Vancouver Island . As we pulled up to the ferry terminal at the appointed hour, 5:30 AM, we knew that something was strange when we saw the sign "kayaks and canoes use roadway." Then when we checked in, we asked how soon we would be loading, and were told it was uncertain, because they had to do a "ship shuffle." As we waited and waited, it turned out that the "ship shuffle" was not a new dance, but rather an exchange of ferries on the same slip. The ferry from the Queen Charlotte Islands had been due in at 5 AM but had been delayed because of a storm, and since there were passengers on that ferry that wanted to change to ours, our ferry had to leave the single slip, mark time in the harbor until the Queen Charlotte ferry came in, wait until it had disgorged its passengers and vehicles and departed, and then come into the slip to load all of us. So we were an hour late in departing, and we were doubly glad that we had allowed the booking agent to talk us into taking a cabin. Once we were underway the trip was wonderful; we loved the comfort of our cabin and the view of the passing scene out of our big porthole. The best scene along the way was the Bella Bella lighthouse.

We landed at Port Hardy at about midnight and were happy that we had reserved a spot at the Quatse River campground, which turned out to be wonderful. From here we return to famliar territory; we have been to Vancouver Island before, as well as Vancouver and Seattle, from which we will proceed homeward. On this leg of our journey we will be visiting family and friends and making miles, so I am going to suspend my daily blog postings, but I will try to continue posting our points on the map as we make our way eastward. Thanks for tuning in to our great anniversary adventure!