BC Ferry to Quadra Island

We took the BC ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, and it was a very different experience from the Alaska ferries. The boat was new and very swanky, and the food was great. But if you wanted to sit in the front observation lounge, you had to pay. Granted, the lounges along the side of the vessel had great seats, and nearly floor to ceiling windows, so it wasn't too bad. The trip was very foggy, which made the islands looming in and out of the fog more dramatic.

After arriving at midnight in Port Hardy, we spent the night in the curling club parking lot, and then drove to Campbell River, where we picked up another ferry to Quadra Island. In between, we took a hike out to a view over a strait where enormous quantities of dynamite were used to remove a couple rocks that were a hazard to navigation. The trail crossed a creek via a suspension bridge, which was fun to navigate, and only a hazard if more than one person tried to cross at the same time.

Arriving in Prince Rupert

We arrived in Prince Rupert, BC at 3:30am after a long ferry ride from Wrangell on the ferry M/V Taku. If we had to do this trip again, I'd have tried to avoid traveling on the Taku. It's a smaller ferry, and besides the awful food, just seems more run down than the others. This is the container port next to the ferry terminal, that was busy loading and unloading containers and was all lit up in the early, early darkness.

Ferry Sketches

I brought a little watercolor sketching kit with me, thanks to some great suggestions from Jana Bouc, and have been struggling with this new way of painting. I still haven't figured out how to paint trees yet...but I've had better luck with little sketches on the ferry.

Leaving Petersburg

As we were loading onto the ferry in Petersburg we pulled out a camera and were able to get some photos of our journey onto the boat. This is a shot of the harbor from the ramp leading into the ferry.


Here we are starting to load onto the M/V Taku.


Here we are halfway down the ramp watching the car ahead of us load.

We are parked so that we will be the first ones off the boat in Wrangell. There were not very many vehicles on this ferry with us.


On this journey we travelled through the Wrangell Narrows, in some places the channel was only about 300 feet wide. There were over fifty channel markers the captain had to navigate through.

Our kayak group had a dinner planned for the night we got back, unfortunately we were only able to join them for a drink before dinner because we had to catch our ferry. As we traversed the narrows, we passed the restaurant and our group was waiting to wave at us on the ferry. We were able to see them with our binoculars, but I am not sure they were able to see us waving back. It was very sweet of them to wait till the ferry passed to wave us off on our journey.

First leg of the Alaska Marine Highway

We took our first trip on the Alaska ferry system, from Haines to Juneau. The total time on the water was about 4 1/2 hours, and we had good weather with a little rain all the way. Saw a pod of whales and some porpoise off in the distance, as well as a few pelagic birds (Sooty Shearwater and Black-legged Kittiwake) but mostly enjoyed the view of the passing scenery. We sat outside in the solarium for a while, and then moved inside when it started to rain and played some cribbage.