To get to Port Renfrew from the mainland of British
Columbia, your drive will take a maritime
turn. In fact, the highway becomes a ship
that takes you across the Strait of
Georgia to Vancouver Island.
Since 1960, a company called British Columbia Ferry Services Incorporated has carried people, dogs,
cats, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses, trucks, boats on trailers — you name it —
across the water all up and down British Columbia’s coast. And it’s quite the
coast: including both B.C.’s mainland and offshore islands, our coastline twists
and turns more than 27,000 kilometres.
Some three dozen ferries follow 25 different routes along
this coast, and link 47 ports! You
can voyage to places with magical names like Haida Gwaii, Penelakut, Sointula, Hornby, Gambier, Vesuvius Bay, or Waglisla (a community also known … not coincidentally … as Bella
Bella).
There are other
ways to get across the water, though you couldn’t bring your car.
Last year, about 20 million passengers – and nearly 8 million vehicles – travelled aboard
B.C. Ferries. With more than 500 sailings a day (nearly 175,000 sailings per
year), the ferries leave on schedule over nine times out of ten. Given sometimes
foul weather, heavy traffic loads, and complicated machinery, that’s pretty
impressive!
We boarded a ferry called the Coastal Celebration at the Tsawwassen
ferry terminal, which is about 30 kilometres south of Vancouver.
The ferry terminal is at the end of a long causeway with
pretty views south toward the community of Tsawwassen, and north toward
Vancouver and the North Shore mountains.
There’s lots to do while you wait for your chance to board.
You can shop and eat in the Tsawwassen Quay Market …
play outdoors …
or take a stroll, and watch the freighter traffic at the
nearby Roberts Bank Superport (which
ships over 20 million tonnes of coal each year) and Deltaport (which can handle the largest container ships on the seas).
Built in Germany in 2008, the Coastal Celebration is a
whopping 160 metres long. The ferry can carry 370 vehicles (including up to 32
big semi-trailer trucks) and over 1,600 passengers and crew.
The Coastal Celebration travels nearly 45
kilometres to Swartz Bay, on
Vancouver Island, in an hour and 35 minutes.
The ship goes through Active
Pass, between Galiano and Mayne Islands. These are just two of
the over 200 islands and islets that make up B.C.’s beautiful Gulf Islands.
Wow – this telescope gives great views of the islands
passing by.
I played onboard,
spent some time in the video arcade,
browsed the Passages gift shop with Sue (I thought she
should get me one of these models),
and took in some sun.
Once you’ve disembarked in Swartz Bay, it’s a pleasant
142-kilometre drive to Port Renfrew.
Coming home, we boarded a ship called the Spirit of
Vancouver Island at Swartz Bay. This beauty was built in Victoria in
1994. It’s 167.5 metres long, and can carry 410 vehicles and 2,100 passengers
and crew.
After a snack in the onboard Coastal Café, believe me, it
was tempting to just drowse during the crossing to Tsawwassen. When I heard
that a naturalist (an expert on
plants and animals) would be giving a talk on the aft (rear) deck, though, we hustled there.
This is Dan Stewart,
who is part of B.C. Ferries’ and Parks Canada’s Coastal Naturalists program. Naturalists like Dan have been giving
talks during summertime sailings for the past seven years.
Dan
focussed his talk on Garry Oak meadows
— the brown patches you see scattered around the Gulf Islands. They are in fact
a kind of grassland. While 80% of B.C. is coniferous forest, less than 1% is
grassland. In this area, grasslands occur because of a rain shadow effect, and very thin soil that doesn’t retain
moisture. Garry oaks can tolerate these conditions.
Have
you learned about James Douglas yet
in school? He was Queen Victoria’s Governor on Vancouver Island from 1851 to
1864. When Mr. Douglas first saw the area around what is now the city of Victoria,
he called it an Eden because of the flower-filled Garry Oak meadows. He didn’t
realize that he should give local First Nations credit. The meadows there
existed because indigenous people had burnt off vegetation to promote the
growth of the camas lily, whose root
is a prized, edible bulb.
Dan
told us that less than 5% of pre-Contact Garry Oak meadows remain. 100 species
that depend on the meadows’ ecosystem are now at risk.
Whenever we have the pleasure of enjoying the
outdoors, this is a good thing to keep in mind: nature always needs us to help
look after it. B.C. Ferries is working on environmental concerns too.
Story © S. Clouthier
Southern Gulf Islands map courtesy Wikipedia
Portrait of James Douglas courtesy Wikipedia
Quercus garryana (Garry Oak) and Deer courtesy brewbooks on Flickr
Camas lily courtesy public-domain-image.com
Other photos © S. Clouthier
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