Today's instalment is re the Geography of the trip. I'll take you through the trip, in sequential order, re the things that we passed by, and what captured my attention.
Those of you that know me, know that I enjoy knowing where I am on a map, knowing what's coming up next, and then seeing what it actually looks like in person. I also am amazed/amused/impacted by simple things in geography, by patterns, by uniqueness, and by historical significance.
(small photos in this are from the kamera of Karl, and used to try to illustrate my points)
Here's what I saw:
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Port Hardy area:
- seems to be consistently 10-degrees cooler than the south coast, in the summer.
- I love driving Highway 19, especially between Sayward and Port McNeill, re the inland mountains. I love how you can see Rugged Mountain both from Tahsis and from Woss.
- Karl & I were discussing why the ferry terminal's location was chosen back in 1980 to be way out of town, at the edge of Hardy Bay. We think that it was to keep the early-morning & late-night noise away from the town. Also there might have been a chunk of Crown-land available there.
On the water, north of Port Hardy:
- I like how Vancouver Island is diagonal, even though most of us might visualize it as a straight north to south line. And when the ferry goes north in Queen Charlotte Strait, and you see Vancouver Island fall-away to the west side, you realize that the tip of the island really does point North-West.
- The ferry followed the NorAd route out of Hardy Bay and into QC Strait, and didn't weave between islands like the Chilliwack sometimes does (like it did for Wet Coast Kid in 2006).
- I enjoy watching the islands in the QC Strait get progressively more windswept and desolate, as you near the Queen Charlotte Sound (not AKA "Haida Gwaii Sound", in case you're wondering ;D). Pine Island light house is the last island of significance before we hit the open water.
- Traveling just 1 day post-solstice, I was amazed at how "high" in the north-west the Sunset was. Much more north than I would have thought.
- I was asleep (or trying) during the 1st crossing of QC Sound. I awoke briefly at 2:00am, and noticed that the ship-rolling had subsided, so I took a glance out the window and saw the early morning outline of Calvert Island on the West, so we were now in FitzHugh Sound; thankfully back in protected waters.
- FitzHugh Sound is a north-south thing, with the Mainland on the east (Rivers inlet is at the bottom of the sound) and a series of Islands on the West. Calvert Island is at the south, and had a tall snow-capped mountain (listed on my map re elevation, so it was tall). Then there are some gaps in the Western barrier, and you can actually feel the effect of the wind on the 'Wack (not through the willows) as you passed by these gaps, re the ship-rolling again. Hakai Pass is a popular kayaking area, and is a Provincial Park.
- Part way up FitzHugh Sound, there's an intersection (and I'll use road-terms often, as there are many T-intersections with these channels & fjords)...... and to the east goes Burke Channel, which forms the southern boundary of the aptly named large "King Island". It's at this intersection that the ex-cannery village of Namu is located. The Route-40 used to stop there, for a few years, but doesn't any longer.
- Continuing up FitzHugh Sound, you get another intersection. This is a major one, so watch for traffic & pedestrians. ;D If you continue north, you will curve to the east eventually and become Dean Channel (which forms the northern boundary of King Island), and you'd go there to get to Ocean Falls. But to go to Bella Bella, the most direct route is to hang a sharp left turn, and go west, to go past the south portion of Denny Island, and then you're in an S-Curve. The 2nd half of the S-Curve is when you turn right, to go north, with Denny Island on your right (East) and Campbell Island on your left. Yes, you are now nearing McLoughlin Bay terminal. Because ship movement can cause you to lose your balance, always use the hand rail..... I don't know about others such was WetKoastCid, but that S-Curve south of Bella Bella is one of my favourite parts of the Inside Passage.
- McLoughlin Bay is south of the town of Bella Bella (more on the towns & terminals, in a future post in this thread). From there, you go north up the channel between Campbell & Denny Islands to get to the BellaBella town. Once you pass this town, you get a wonderful treat: a super archipelago of small islands in a sound, surrounded by larger islands with tall mountains. It reminds me of the view of Tofino Harbour, with the small islands in the harbour, with the tall mountains of Mears Island in the background.
- And then you go past Dryad Point, which is the narrowest part of the Inside Passage trip. Yes, there is a postcard-pretty picture.
- from here, there's another choice in routes: If you go eastward, you can find Johnson Channel, which will eventually get you to Dean Channel, which is on north side of King Island (which gets you to Ocean Falls, which then also connects - well more about that later. ;D). If you go westward, you will approach open waters of Milbanke Sound (yes, 1 "L", and an "E" on the ende).
- Milbanke Sound is interesting, as you do a 90-degree turn in it. In the northbound trip, you enter the sound traveling Westward, and you turn right, to exit northward towards Swindle Island.
- Ivory Island is the lighthouse at the entrance (at the bottom of the sound).
- Upon leaving Milbanke Sound to the north, the route of Route-40 deviates from the InsidePassage route. And that's because you're going to Klem2. (now before you get that far north, you can take another route a bit further west through some islands... but then you'd need to cross more open water at Laredo Sound and Camaano Sound). The south entrance to Klemtu is a channel between Swindle Island (to the west) and a small island on the East that has a volcano-Dr.Evil-lair look to it. Karl's picture shows what I mean.....
- We go up this narrow channel, to get to Klemtu.
One thing that I noticed in this area (and also near Shearwater) is that the trees seemed to have very many dead trees standing. Or at least that's what it looked like: lots of grey bare poles, with smaller scrubby green trees around them. Does someone have the arboritic answer to this?
- Up the channel we go, to Klemtu, and it suddenly appears behind a point on the west-side. We see the LongHouse first, and then the new part of the town around the bay, and the dock. Otis Reading was not there, but the rest of the song fits (kids, ignore that one).
- After leaving Klemtieu, we went north past the volcano island, and then turned south, down the Inside passage channel, to approach Milbanke Sound once again. (side bar: as we went north, we saw Princess Royal Island in the distance. No, Captain Mark Philips was not there. And no, the SOVI and SOBC were not there either. But if we had continued north a short bit, we would have seen the most beautiful lighthouse at Boat Bluff, which is the 1/2-way point of the Inside Passage journey. So you can consider that the trip from Port Hardy to Klemtu is approx 48% of the inside-passage NorAd trip.)
- As we approached Milbanke Sound from the north, on Sunday evening, we were met with a strong headwind. Fearing rough seas, and having just eaten a large dinner of roast pork, veggies and chocolate cake (with raspberry sauce) and a large coke, I freaked a bit, and quickly downed 2 gravol pills and 2 pepto-bismol pills. Seriously, I did (Karl is my witness). But the seas weren't that rough, and there were no unexpected movements...
- The southward trip through Milbanke Sound features that 90-degree turn eastward, once we passed the Ivory Island light-station (or at least got near it). We were then back in that Tofino-like archipelago, of small and big islands north of Bella Bella & Shearwater. We never did sight Dryad Point or Bella Bella again, as we steered straight into Johnson Channel, destined for the closer route to reach Dean Channel with it's prize of Ocean Falls awaiting.
- By this time, it was past 9:00pm, and I was gleefully bundled up in swaddling clothes and standing in the forward part of the ship's outside deck. This was fun to watch, as it was as if we were navigating through a labyrinth. From the water-level view, you never new what new channels would emerge to your left or right, as you passed each new point, and you never quite knew which way the ship was going to turn, until it turned. This was fun, as it was like driving through a suburban neighbourhood of feeder roads, cul-de-sacs, alleys, etc.
- Eventually we reached the major intersection and turned-left (after looking both ways) into Dean Channel.........which means we were now in the shadow of King Island. As I was by now asleep, I can only presume that we sailed up Dean Channel, and eventually took the dead-end street up to Ocean Falls, which was where were where when I woke up at 12:50am on Sunday, and so Karl & I went outside on deck like a couple of idiots to see what it looked like.
- All I can tell you about Ocean Falls is that from the ferry dock, we could see a road, a few buildings, and the outline of a gigantically massive tall mountain in the background. That mountain outline looked huge.
- After we nerds went back inside and slept again, the ship would have gone back to Dean Channel, and followed the northern side of King Island, going eastward, and then curving south........which is where we were when I woke up and started my Monday at 4:35am. (did you notice the 4 "w" words in a row, how alliterative of me...)
- We were still weaving through curves in the road, but generally going southward, approaching another major T-Intersection in the Route-40. Ahead lie a dead end. To the right was the westward leading (still proceeding) Burke Channel (which takes you back to Namu & Fitz Hugh Sound..... get it? we're circumnavigating King Island, that's what we're doing folks). To the left is the Eastward leading Burke Channel which would eventually split into the 2 Bentinct Arms.
- Aside: Are you familiar with the line in the water on Route-30 in Georgia Strait, which marks the divide between muddy Fraser River water and blue ocean water? Pretty distinct line, marked with a white-scum floating line. Well, there's the same thing in Dean/Burke Channels, marking the divide between blue ocean water, and turquoise glacier-fed waters. Same floating scum too...
- Now, if we had continued straight, and not turned, we would have run into land, at a mountain that looked very much to me like a crouching-bear. Keep in mind that this was approx 4:45am, so I might be hallucinating a bit. But the mountain had impressions that looked like a bear face, the trees looked like rippling fur (albeit green fur, so may it was the Grinch?), and a couple of rocky protrusions at water-level looked like paws. Once I get my photos developed (yes, you read that right), I'll scan & post the crouching-bear photo, and you can believe.......
- As we traveled eastward in Burke Channel, towards the Bentinct forks, sunrise happened. Now when you're traveling at sea level in a fjord with tall mountains to the east, you might experience a "moving sunrise"; which I also experienced the prior day in FitzHugh Sound. This means that just as the sun is starting to break over the mountain top, and you're about to finally catch some rays, the ship moves further up the channel past a taller mountain, and so the sunrise is put on-hold for you, until the sun finally rises over the tallest mountain guarding the channel, or until the ship finally sails in front of a shorter mountain. A neat effect.
- In the Bentinct Forks area, there are lots of snow-packs / glaciers high in the mountains. These were photo-candy for the German tourists during the trip back down the other way, later in the day.
- At the B-Forks, we go left and choose North Bentinct Arm. And then it's a very short distance to the head of the inlet, which is the estuary of the Bella Coola river, and the ferry terminal is located just west of the town, on the southern edge of the inlet.
- The inlets here are classic fjords, with tall mountains rising from the sea on both sides. Pictures are awesome here.
- After dropping off traffic at Bella Coola, and picking up a new load for the 2nd trip of our journey (the Monday day cruise from BCBC to Port Hardy), at 8:00am we journeyed westward down North Bentinct Arm, and into Burke Channel (on the south side of King Island). This took a few hours, and it wasn't until noon that we reached Namu and the traffic-intersection of FitzHugh Sound. Of course, we turned left, and proceeded Southward down the FitzHugh Sound.
- This time the protecting islands of Hakai Pass and Calvert Island were on our right side........ (just making sure that you're following along ok).
- We passed by the lighthouse that marks the north end of Queen Charlotte Sound, and the captain read the story of the unsolved murder of the lighthouse keeper. As we entered Queen Charlotte Sound from the north, the weather had deteriorated into rain and wind, and that made the open water fun.
- Fearing a barf-festival in the main lounge (similar to what happens in the NorAd's Raven Lounge), I escaped upstairs to the solarium, and tried to nap and think about home. Karl eventually came upstairs too, and I got up, and acted brave.
- Now here's where you've got to follow along, re directions and visualization. Because the wind was coming at us from the West and since we were sailing from north to south, the wind would be hitting us broadside. That's not a good thing. But we needed to go south, so the solution was a zig-zag (not the rolling-paper.........). The idea was to have the wind & swells hit the ship in the "corner" of the ship, not the side or end, it to approach the wind at a 45-degree angle. And so we did a series of zig-zags to slowly get us to the south-side of the Sound.
Observe, and pretend that left-to-right is really our north south direction.
The straight route would be:
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But the zig-zag route is:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
- you can see the evidence in this picture, re the wake.
Cool, huh? There was a paranoid lady in the solarium with us (and older Canadian lady with her husband), and she was questioning the captain's sanity re this course. If this were a disaster-movie, her character would be the one that freaks out and jumps overboard.............but she stayed and annoyed us for a bit.
- As we exited QC-Sound, we saw Vancouver Island tailing off to our right, and we went down the Queen Charlotte Strait, and arrived back at Hardy Bay. But before we reached Hardy Bay, while in QC-Strait, I was looking south-east at the BC mainland's Coast Mountains. It was a bit cloudy, but I saw a tall, large snowy mountain in the background, behind some nearer mainland mountains. I'd like to think that this could have been Mount Waddington (BC's highest peak), but I'm not sure. I've never knowingly seen Waddington, and it's a bit of an elusive thing for me, that I want to eventually see. (Mount Robson in the Rockies is easy: you just drive to TeatJauneCache, go east on Highway 16, pass RearGuard Falls, turn a corner in the highway, and then Robson is right in front of you in plain view. But Waddington isn't that easy to get to or to see.........pity).
And that's the geography story, re this trip.