Let’s go back a few years to start this story.   Our sailing friends from Australia had called to ask if we wanted to join them on a cruise to Chile that summer.  I reminded them that summer here was dead winter in Chile.  So, they quickly thought again and suggested Alaska.  To which I thought quickly as well and said yes! 

Jump ahead and the cruise is coming up.  I was excited about the prospect of seeing the scenery and wildlife while cruising up the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Ketchikan.  But what happened in reality was that the portion of the trip through the passage was covered at night!  And we didn’t see any scenery or wildlife at all. 

So jump ahead to this trip.  We had another chance to cover basically the same passage but with different travel time.  We would be traveling through the passage during daylight and, unless it was pouring rain or maybe clouded in forest fire smoke, we might finally get to see the scenery of the inside passage.

The plan was great, but the ferry reservation system sucked.  I contacted the ferry company last February and asked for a reservation on July 5th thinking that was early enough.  I was told there was no room, but I could get on a waitlist.  So that’s what I did.  I was told I could book up to 3 crossings, so I did that too.  The 5^th, 7^th, and 9^th of July.  I was 5^th, 6^th and 5^th on the lists.  So, I had hopes of making one of them.

Then nothing.  I checked my Ferry Account regularly but no change. So, I made alternative plans.  Lot’s of alternatives!  I called the ferry company and was told I would receive an email if we actually got a reservation.  Then on May 15^th we started our trip with still no confirmation.  But there was about 2 months to go.  What could happen?!  Still nothing.  And time was getting shorter.

Finally, I moved up to #1 on each list!  Wow.  Then about a week before the first possible departure date, I got the email!  We were confirmed on two of them!!   Because of timing, we picked the 7^th and called all our alternative plan locations and got everything settled!  We were going to travel the Inside Passage during the day.

This is the roundabout way to explain how we ended up in Port Hardy on July 4^th to take the July 7^th ferry up the Inside Passage.  It was a short 38 mile drive up from Telegraph Cove after our great kayaking adventure.  We had 3 days to relax, prep and look around Port Hardy.

The first thing was to head downtown to the Visitor Center and find out some local things to see and then go out to the ferry terminal location to see if there were any issues about getting in.   Everything looked good and we picked some ideas to explore the next day.  But it was already late, so we were back to the RV for dinner.

Our first place to visit was the Quatse Salmon Center on the Quatse River just outside town.  The center collects salmon each year (both male and female) from the river, breed them and help them grow before releasing them as smolts back into the river. A female will have up to 2500 eggs.  While they mostly breed the sockeye, they work with all types of salmon and maintain separate release rules and methods for each one.  Very interesting and so very important for the industry. 

Next, we drove out to the port of Coal Harbour.  It is located on the west side of the island in Stephens Bay.  As the name indicates, this was an inland harbor for the coal industry and had several past incarnations as a mining town, military base, and whaling station.  In WWII, there was a Royal Canadian Airforce seaplane base and anti-submarine patrol. 

The hanger is still there and houses the museum from that era.  It is also home to whaling station artifacts, including a massive (20-foot) blue whale jawbone, alongside RCAF memorabilia, vintage logging gear, and old forest engines.  My favorite was a collection of old outboard motors.  Seems silly, but when I was in high school around 1966, I worked at a marine engine repair shop and many of these models in the collection were types we worked on.  Quite memorable!    We added a walk along the cove in Port Hardy to get a few more steps in for the day.

Then, one more day exploring Storey’s Beach with a walk on the beach and part of the Fort Rupert Trail.  A nice trail between Port Hardy and Storey’s Beach with a lake in the middle.  Never discovered a name for the lake, but we found it!  All done, we were finally ready to leave the next morning on the ferry.

This is where the long version of the real story begins.  The ferry is scheduled to leave the dock at 7:30 am and they want us there 2 hours early for boarding at 6:30. We got up at 4:30, readied the RV and left by 5.  The ferry dock was only 4 miles away, and we were checked in and in line by 5:15. To pass the time, we had planned ahead and had our breakfast and coffee.  Then they called us in to the ferry.  They put us along the far-right side of the ship along a guide rail and behind a large boat on a trailer (of course).  You will find out why I mentioned this later. 

We had reserved seats in the Aurora Room on the 5^th deck.  The room has oversized reclining chairs with wide spacing between the rows.  We were told that they were the last seats available, but in reality, the room wasn’t even half full.  However, the view forward through the huge windows that wrapped around the front of the room was the key.  The purser assigned us seats at the end of the second row with direct viewing to the right which worked out well to see the scenery as we passed by. 

The trip was to take 17 hours to cover the 325 miles including a stop in Bella Bella.  Yes, that’s right, 17 hours.  So, we settled in.  Many in the Aurora Room went straight to sleep.  The ship left the dock on time at 7:25. 

At this latitude, the sun is up at about 5:30 so it was already light.  But this portion of the trip was in between a few islands then out into open water of the Pacific Ocean for a few hours.  So not much to see anyway.  The boat did pick up some of the ocean swells but not bad enough that Gail really noticed. 

Then we entered the inside passage and the seas calmed down.  We went outside on the 7^th deck to watch the land pass by, but it was rainy, cloudy and cold.  And the shore was just too far to see clearly anyway.  So, we didn’t stay too long.  So far it didn’t look good for the scenery or wildlife.  We did see a few of the light houses from inside (remember those huge windows?)

After a while it began to clear and the sun peeked through the clouds.  We went out several times and walked both side decks and the stern platform.   The scenery was much clearer and closer as the straits narrowed.  This section had many waterfalls that came from the peaks all the way down to the water!  Some very dramatic.  The shores were wooded to the water line with almost no beaches.  We watched for hours and were pleasantly surprised.  A few eagles were spotted as expected but no large wildlife.  But there is plenty of beautiful scenery.  During the cruise, they made announcements along the way with history of the area and information about the indigenous people that still inhabit some of the land.  Very interesting.  Most of the area is protected habitat.

After dark at about 10:00 pm, we settled in for the rest of the trip.  We had about 3 hours to go.  And sure enough, we pulled into Port of Prince Rupert and into the ferry dock ahead of schedule at 12:30 am.  People were called to their cars, and we went down to the auto deck to get ready. 

As the cars cleared out and I had room, they called for me to pull out and around the boat.  Remember the boat??  As I turned out and began to go sharply forward to the left, the Jeep steered sharply to the right as it normally would and up onto a low guide rail.  The right front wheel was about to go over the rail. I stopped and we assessed the situation.  I was blocking the other RVs behind me a bit but the crew wanted to make sure all was secure.  We couldn’t back up so we disconnected the Jeep, and Gail jumped in to follow me off and go to the RV park.  It all worked out in the end.   And why didn’t the boat go first became apparent as I went past seeing it had no truck attached to pull it out. 

The RV park was just a mile away from the dock and the staff, being familiar with the ferry arrival times, were up and waiting for us to arrive.  But there was a big Class A RV ahead of me in the check in line and they were waiting for their pad to be assigned.  And it was drizzling a bit. (We were happy to have unhooked the Jeep in the dry light of the ferry!)  All in all, and with some patience, we got into our pad, hooked up and went to bed by 1:15am.  And we slept until 11:30! 

Prince Rupert has a reputation for rain as it receives the most rainfall of all cities in Canada.  And it proved itself worthy of the title. 

We fulfilled our idea of seeing at least a large part of the Inside Passage and were happy with the resulting scenery!  Now we were heading back east.  But first a few days in Prince Rupert.  You’ll just have to wait!