Ciao, Bella Bella

It was an early 5am start to make our ferry up the Inside Passage. The short 11 minute ride felt surprisingly warm, yet with noticeable moisture in the air.

BC Ferries requires you to arrive no less than 90 minutes before the sailing. Unlike most other ferry crossings, motorcycles load last. We picked up boarding passes in the passenger lounge, who stop selling 20 minutes prior to departure. Clearly we were newbies on the route as a couple other motorcyclists arrived closer to 7am 🙃

We enjoyed a standard "ferry" breakfast on board, exchanging motorcycle tales with D and T, who rode up from Sydney the day prior. We eventually found our way to the premium lounge we had prepurchased, with its comfy reclining seats. It was a bit surprising that basic tea and coffee weren't include with the extra $42 charge. The boat was quieter than expected, with plenty of general seating available, including the now retired buffet area still filled with local paintings and carvings.

Our lounge seats had a great view of the coast as we traversed the small section exposed to the open ocean with tiny rollers which barely bobbed the boat. The low fog really amplified the glow of the sun as it made its daily journey from east to west. Clear blue skys were revealed when the fog finally did burn off. A very calm morning.

Our journey north is 16hrs in duration up the spectacular west coast passage. The weather was amazing with blue skies, warm air and calm seas. No connectivity onboard, unless you were with the small group of Chinese tourists who setup their Starlink on the stern deck 🤣

This is was our first time in this route and eating 3 meals onboard. We hoped for something better than burgers for dinner and lucked out getting the 5th and 4th last serving of 10oz prime rib beef! 🐄😋

We enjoyed roaming the ship, admiring the sceneries, and chatting to our new motorcycle acquaintances. Our one stop along route was the small First Nations town, Bella Bella. Only passengers disembarking or joining used the terminal.

Five movies were shown in the lounge and we caught the last, No Country For Old Men. The final 2hrs of the trip we tried to nap in our loungers.

Alas, at 1am a nice light fog greeted us in the Prince Rupert terminal, we disembarked and zipped the 6min ride to our hotel. A much nicer hotel and comfortable beds. It was hard to try and sleep with being out of sync on our usual schedule 😴

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