Inside passage on the ferry

You can travel the inside passage on a cruise ship, or you can do it on a BC Ferry. It's a big and very nice vehicle ferry, upstairs in the passenger area's you wouldn't even think you were on a vehicle ferry, the boat was so nice. It was a long Friday. 5.30am boarding at Port Hartdy, arrival at Prince Rupert at 10.30pm. One restaurant and one cafeteria on board. Some people had cabins (with beds).

The day was pleasant enough, but the weather was bad and so visibility wasn't great. I saw an Orca (killer whale), but it didn't do much so if it hadn't have been pointed out I wouldn't have noticed it.

My most impressive part of the day was chatting to an American who had been at the same hostel in Port Hardy as us. He had left his car in Port Hardy and had brought a kayak on board. Travelling alone, he got off 2/3's of the way along to kayak back... expecting it to take 2-3 weeks. The scariest part perhaps being that this is Grizzly Bear country now, and so camping had a reasonable risk. He was carrying food (rather than fishing) as the dehydrated food would have less smell to attract bears. Sometimes, he might have to spend the entire night in the kayak rather than camping. He has a wife who doesn't like kayaking, she mountain climbs instead!

We did manage to score a tour of the bridge, and it was impressive to go up there and learn how the big boat is navigated.