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20030701 Open new window with today’s pictures.
July 01, 2003
Tuesday
Canada Day in Canada
Start: Sunny Sanctuary RV Park, Port Hardy BC
End: Park Avenue RV Park, Prince Rupert BC
Miles: 10 driving, 270 by ferry
Hi Temp: missed it
Lo Temp: missed it
This was a long and interesting day, but not as good as we had hoped for.
We were up at 5:20am, and unhooked the trailer hookups. We drove out of the campground slowly, avoiding all the rabbits, and drove out to the Port Hardy Terminal of BC Ferries. There, we checked in, shut off both propane bottles and tagged them per instructions. We verified we had paid our $1,119.95CDN fare. Then we went to the head of line 7 to wait.
We walked around, and talked with a neighbor, John Holod, who does RV Adventure Videos (www.johnholodproductions.com). He and his wife reside in their trailer and travel, either making the videos, or presenting them at various functions such as National Geographic shows or RV conventions. He had a really nice video camera he was using, hoping to get shots to fill in a show he's doing on the Inside Passage.
We started loading about 6:00am, thru the bow toward the stern. Some class-C's were first, then some motorcycles, then us. It happened again that we wound up right at the far gate, ensuring a quick departure.
We had pre-purchased the buffet service at each meal, so we headed up there. They didn't open till 7:00am, so we wandered around until then. Then we ate a large breakfast. We headed to the lounge to get decent seats for the ride.
The Queen Of The North backed out promptly at 7:30am, turned in the harbor and headed out. The officer making the welcoming announcement regretted the weather but said we should see some sun and have some rain. He lied. We never saw the sun and the best we got was a light drizzle or moderate mist. Visibility was restricted depending on how thick the moisture was, and the ceiling was very low all day (perhaps 500 feet). We never did see any of the mountains on the route.
This was in stark contrast to the beautiful weather we had going through the same waters on our 1995 Alaska cruise, so now we're 50-50 in that regard.
We saw the native village of 1,500 people or so named Bella Bella on the way up. We took an alternative route that had more open water, since the ship had had a problem with steering in the pre-underway checks. The secondary system handled everthing without problem. Later, we got into very restricted waters (maybe 200 yards to the shore on each side) and were still banging along at 15 knots or better.
We had lunch, lightly after that breakfast. Then we went back to the lounge seats and read our books. After a while, we went to the bar for a glass of wine. Later, we went to dinner and had salmon that was pretty good. Then back to the seats and books.
Nobody made much of a thing about it being Canada Day today, at least here on the ferry.
Finally we saw some lights ahead that turned out to be the Ridley Island bulk freight terminals. One loads bulk coal and the other is fed from a series of grain elevators and loads grain into bulk-carrying ships. They say they serve 100 ships a year, most in the 1,000' range.
Prince Rupert is just beyond that, and they soon called us to go to our vehicles. The ferry made all sorts of noises down there in the stern as it turned and backed into the slip.
The stern gates opened a few minutes ahead of scheduled arrival time (10:15pm) and the foot passengers walked out. Then I tried to go but couldn't. I backed up a little, then went ahead and got out ok; must have had one wheel in a tie-down hole. It was slick with moisture going up the ramp and I felt the limited-slip differential kick in two or three times.
We got out of the terminal, drove down BC16 one kilometer and turned in at the RV Park. Several units followed us in. We paid, and drove down to the site. We backed in, unhooked, leveled the trailer and connected the electricity, leaving the rest for tomorrow morning.
We turned on the one channel of TV (CBC, naturally) and watched "Air Farce" while we sipped a glass. Air Farce is a comedy something like the old Saturday Night Live, lampooning the Canadian government. Then off to bed.
(...Much later note) The ferry we rode this day sank in 2006 on the trip from Port Rupert to Port Hardy. Link to more information regarding “Queen of the North”.
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