southbound sail

At the end of April I had a suite of meetings to attend on the northern end of Vancouver Island and thus had the chance to cross another activity off my North Coast Bucket List - taking the ferry down the coast.

Confession:  I love ferries

I know, I know, it's almost sacrilege to say considering how much British Columbians love to complain about BC Ferries, but the truth is, I adore a good ferry ride.  Love' em.  (Admittedly I've never lived somewhere where I relied on one for day-to-day life, which I am sure takes the romance of them pretty quickly, but I've probably taken 100s of ferries in my life and I still love them).

The trip from Rupert to Hardy is the grand-daddy of all BC Ferries trips so I was extra excited in the days leading up to it. That being said, besides booking myself a reservation, I didn't do too much research into what the trip would entail and what I should bring.  In my usual last-minute fashion, I posted a quick question on Facebook asking people what the must-haves for the trips were.  It was a bit silly, considering I was already at the terminal and couldn't do anything about it, but in case you were curious, here is what I got in response: Gravol, Night vision goggles to look for blows, Alcohol, Know where the liferafts are, A flask, A cabin.  I had none of the above.  Dammit.

Feeling like a rookie (no flask!), I twiddled my thumbs at the terminal for what seemed like an eternity.   The waiting an eternity part was also my fault.  The truth is, I am am a total goody-goody when it comes to check-in times.  It was a Tuesday in late-April, so of course the ferry was not busy.  None the less, since BC Ferries recommended that you get there 2 HOURS before this sailing, I insisted that Ty drop me off promptly at the time stated on my ticket.  And then I sat there.  For hours.  I'm sure in the summer when the sailings are busy, it's a good idea to get there with plenty of time to assure your reservation, but in April, trust me, this is not the case.

At last, it was time to board.

All aboard!

We had a spectacular day for our sailing, and as we left Rupert, I had a little hint of what it must have felt like to take a bit trans-Atlantic voyage from Europe to North America.  Everyone was out on deck, taking pictures, exploring the ship, looking excited.  But by 'everyone', I mean the 20 or so people that were on the sailing. Seriously, it was dead.  I was shocked by how few people were on board. The crew probably out-numbered the passengers 2:1.

Leaving Rupert

Scenes from the sail

Leaving the harbour I started humming a little earworm that stuck with me the entire trip.  Ridiculously, it only started because I am terrible with song lyrics (ask my sister) and I always sing the wrong words. I somehow mixed up Rod Stewart's  "Will I see you tonight, on a downtown train"...as "I will see you tonight, on a southbound train..."which seemed fitting for my southbound sailing despite the fact that I wasn't on a train and well, they were the completely wrong lyrics.  None the less, it provide my inner soundtrack for the entire 17 hour journey.  Good ol' Rod.

Now you're humming that song, right?

Haha. You. Are. Welcome.

Incorrect lyrics aside, the evening aboard was quite lovely.  The lack of people on this sailing meant you could pretty much have any area of the ship almost completely to yourself.  I spent time on deck enjoying the sun and searching for whales, taking pics, having a beer (why don't all ferries have beer?), reading a magazine and generally enjoying myself.

Beer on board a ferry! Sweet!

The Rupert-Hardy sailings in the winter and spring are an overnight service, so after a few hours on board, the sun began to set, turning the water an iridescent shade of orange and the clouds a cotton candy pink.

Sunset scenes

Because I was travelling on my own dime, I decided to forego a cabin and brought my thermarest and sleeping bag to make myself a little bed in the main seating area.  As I mentioned, there was hardly anyone on the sailing and I pretty much had about 20 rows around me to myself all evening, so I was feeling pretty smug aboout my decision to skip getting a cabin.  The smug feeling was short lived though, as just as I was getting ready to go to bed, another passenger came and made her bed RIGHT beside me.  It was the oddest things ever. There was so much empty room around us!  I gave her a look that could only mean "Are you kidding me?" but either she ignored me or didn't pick up on it.  Needless to say I let our an audible sigh and moved all my stuff a little further away.  She happily took over my former spot and proceeded to snore away the rest of the night.  Oy.

Tucked into bed, giggling over the weird lady that apparently wanted to sleep right beside me.

The next morning I awoke in Fisher Channel to the captain announcing that there were killer whale ahead.  I ran outside in my jammies and watched a group pass by at a bit of a distance.  It never gets old.

I spent the rest of the sailing, curled up next to the window reading and watching the more familiar central coast go by. I'd picked up 'The Oil Man and the Sea' by Arno Kopecky a few weeks previous and it proved the perfect read for the journey.  The book chronicles a sailing trip between two friends, one an author, one a photographer, neither a sailor, as they trace the route of the Northern Gateway tankers through the Great Bear.  It's eloquently and humourously written, while still emphasizing the multitude of reasons why the Enbridge pipeline and it's associated tankers are a terrible idea for this rich landscape.  There were points in my ferry trip where I was passing through the exact locations being described in the book, making it an even richer reading and travelling experience.

As we pulled into the Port Hardy Terminal 17 hours after leaving Rupert, I actually felt a bit sad that the trip was over.  There is something almost meditative about travelling alone this way.  For 17 hours I was quiet and contemplative, moving passively through a beautiful landscape, with nothing but a book, some magazines, my own thoughts, and the wrong lyrics to a Rod Stewart song to accompany me.  With life always moving along a full tilt, it's not very often in life that we take that amount of time to just 'be'.