West Coast Wedding Whirlwind: Poor Man's Alaska Cruise or.... Seen Any Orcas Lately?

Day 8
Total distance: 21 km (riding)
Accumulated total: 2422 km
Maximum speed: 108 kph
Moving average: 44 kph
Overall average 32 kph
Moving time: 28:41

When we check into the hotel in Port Hardy, Nan notices a sign that indicates we should be at the ferry 2 hours before departure. That can't be right, I think to myself, because we have a reservation and I know from other ferry crossings that if you have a reservation, you only have to be there a half hour before departure. We check on line and in fact, if you show less than 90 minutes before scheduled departure, your reservation is lost and you are on standby. This means we have to get up at 4:40 a.m. to depart at 5:15 to make the ten minute ride down to the terminal.

We sleep fitfully, worrying about sleeping in but we are up promptly at 4:40. It is cool and foggy and not looking too good, though it is not raining despite the fact that the skies are a little threatening. By the time we are saddled up it is 5:30 a.m.

The ferry dock is a little like an airport. We have to line up, present our reservation in line, park our bike, going into a departure lounge, present i.d. and have our i.d. and ferry ticket in hand as we board. We are bikers, so we are on first on the ferry. I guess they are afraid we will intimidate other passengers into not getting on.

There are a number of bikes lined to get onto the ferry; one group of about four bikes has a guy that is going to turn 76 on this trip and I remark that I hope I am riding at that age. Of course, he is one of the guys riding a trike and as such, I am neutral as to whether or not I wave to them as I see them on the highway. They always wave because they don't want to feel left out; they want to be part of "the club" - bad ass bringers of mayhem and intimidation to small towns throughout North America, riding up and down sttreets gunning their engines, sending small children for cover, when their wives let them out for the weekend. Then I feel a little guilty, knowing that when I am 76, we will probably be riding some kind of contraption that doesn't require any skill or strength to keep upright. But for now, they are inferior.

Riding onto the ferry is pretty cool: the bow has a giant maw opened upright and we are riding right into Moby Dick's mouth, being swallowed whole until Caleb can let us out. Unlike other ferry trips, our bikes are tied down so they cannot fall over even though it is not anticiapted that the ferry trip will be rough, though I suspect at some part of the season the crossing is rougher than others. There are signs on the ferry warning passengers to stay inside when it is inclement.

Another difference is that passengers are generally not allowed on the car deck while the ferry is in motion, other than at specified times during the trip and only then, for brief periods of time (15 minutes). We suspect this is for security reasons as some people might go down to the car deck and pilfer items from other unsuspecting travellers. However, they pretty much have to allow passengers down to the car deck periodically as some people bring their children or pets on the trip so they must be allowed down to the car deck to give them a walk or a bowl of water. It is generally considered bad form to leave pets or children locked in a vehicle for extended periods of time but given that the cars are not out in the sun, it is probably o.k. here. Amazing to us, some people actually brought their children up to the passenger deck. We saw this with our own eyes.

We have been up for two and a half hours by the time we get to the upper decks, so we are in urgent need of coffee and something to eat. Based on the recommendation of Kit-Kat, our BC Ferries travel agent, we have pre-purchased two of our meals on board, breakfast and dinner. Our first order of business is to secure our stateroom, which is thankfully easy to do because we are bikers but we then find ourselves in the cafeteria and someone in our family whoshallremainnamelessbutnotme is determined to get a coffee RIGHT NOW. I am pretty certain, maybe 50% positive, that there is an additional dining room that is slightlty nicer than the cafeteria and so I do the most unmanly of things, I ask. Sure enough, we are directed to the OTHER dining room which is at the bow of the boat. This is a little more upscale - not to suggest that the cafeteria is not nice but it is more like the kind of place you would take kids if you brought them. The dining room is very nice and all of a sudden, we feel like we are on the BC Ferries Northern Love Boat. When we are seated, the hostess pulls a chair out for either Nan or me; (I beat her to it - you snooze, you lose) and the tables are adorned with table cloths, cloth napkins and are artistically with several sets of cutlery and stemware. Even though the meal is a trough, there is limited table service and we are offered coffee and water. The bar is not open yet. The food, for a ferry, is surprisingly good and it is as good as you would find at many hotel banquets with a huge selection including chef-carved ham.

We are half finished breakfast by the time the ferry is pulling away from the shore at 7:20. They are not fooling around with the timing as anybody arriving late thinking they were going to race onto the boat is in for a sorry dose of humility.

The ship itself is also surprisingly nice, with leather upholstered reclining chairs angled at the windows to get a nice view, several decks of walking space, "patios" for relaxing in the sun, wall to wall carpeting throughout, the aforementioned staterooms and enclosed life rafts for up to a total of 200 people in the event we sink. I say this in all seriousness because it has been known to happen. On BC Ferries. On this route. As an aside, a young acquaintance of ours and friend of the groom and his 6'4" best-man-and-brother at the wedding, Andy, is a First Mate on a BC Ferry and at the wedding I offer him some wisdom, which is to avoid dipping his pen in the company ink. We don't want him to crash a ferry.

Our stateroom is modest with two single beds, a t.v., closet, writing desk and bathroom with shower. I don't mean "modest" unkindly; it is a great bonus to have the option of having a place to relax privately and clean up on the long ferry ride and it is worth the extra. And certainly, it is much much more than we had on the Tswassen-Victoria ferry the other day. It is tiny but more than enough, though when we go for a nap, it is a squeeze to get two people into one of the single beds.

Our first two hours are spent wandering around the boat checking out the various places, cafes, decks and recreational spots. There is actually a movie theatre and two movies are on tap this day plus there are arcades and play areas for young kids. Plus, there are public "service" announcements that tell passengers about something that appears off the boat that might be historical or interesting.

The clouds are low, it is cool and we are tired from being up early so we opt for our first nap of the day. We sleep briefly and when we wake up, the clouds have lifted, the sun is shining and it is warming up outside, bringing a new perspective to the trip. What started out as a bleak prospect for a full day trip on the ferry is now a Poor Man's Alaska Cruise on the Northern Love Boat. There is no end to the scenery with light houses, waterfalls, the occasional village, fishing boats, recreational boats, moutains a la mode, and for the very lucky, whales; not long after we have passed Bella Bella, a prosperous fishing and lumber community, a public service announcement comes over the PA indicates that whales have been spotted off the starboard side of the boat. We get a brief glimpse and see they are humpback whales.