Must see and do's for new enthusiast

[ryan888]

My son has just discovered his obsession for BC Ferries in the last year..he's 9. I am looking for suggestions for where to take him to show him things that aren't online. Ideally I am looking for points of interest to include in a family vacation for next summer. We just took him to the maritime museum in Victoria this summer but he soaked it in so fast and was craving more...lots more. I saw the article on Port Alberni and the Lady Rose and was wondering if there were other places where old ships or collections can be viewed by the public. And input would be incredibly appreciated. This is not exactly commonplace material and is a real challenge to find places suitable for a 9 year old. Thanks in advance!

[Low Light Mike]

Welcome Ryan.

Has your son seen this here forum website, and perused the many many threads of info yet? There's lots of reading that would give him hours of delight. He's too young to join & post, but he would have lots of fun reading. (ps: thanks for being his adult spokesperson!)

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Here's a project that one of our members did, as a timeline:
ferriesbc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=generaltalk&action=display&thread=2671

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Interesting trip ideas:

- Visit the cemetery on Galiano Island. It's got a super view of Active Pass, right where the Queen of Alberni went aground in 1979. In the summer, you get ships passing every hour.

- Visit the E.J. Hughes art gallery in Duncan BC. The late Mr. Hughes was an awesome artist who accurately depicted many CP Coast-Service steamships of the middle 20th-century, as well as gulf island ferries.

- Take a day trip on the MV Frances Barkley from Port Alberni, or on the MV Uchuck III in Nootka Sound (the MV Uchuck III has 2 or 3 day trips in the summer, which include a B&B overnight stay at a place in Kyuquot).

- Drive past Deas Dock in Richmond, and park at the model-airplane-club parking lot (Rice Mill Road) and walk around near the Deas facility (they have strict security there) to take pictures of the ships at Deas, from across the railway tracks.

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ps: What's your location? Are you a mainlander, or a V-Islander?

[Retrovision]

I could go on and on about possible routes and vantages points that might be of interest - vantage points, though more of an afternoon trip rather than something done during a summer vacation, such as Fred Gingel Park (Google Steet View: maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=49.007598,-123.09019&spn=0,359.998797&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=49.007626,-123.089625&panoid=WN44eQNmBpzUcd1I8R70Qg&cbp=12,265.75,,0,5 & Google Maps: maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=49.007587,-123.090091&spn=0.001325,0.002406&z=19 ) in Delta with great views from the bluffs down to the shoreline of the Tsawwassen Terminal - but another aspect of being a ferry fan is the books, it should be mentioned.

Probably the two most ubiquitous books on our ferry system and how it came about, both having enjoyable anectodes and information as well as plenty of historical (all the way up to the 80s) images, would be:


The Pacific Princesses
An Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Princess Fleet on the Northwest Coast

Sono Nis Press, See: www.sononis.com/book115.stm
(For history upto and including BC Ferries' period of reign but with a focus on the Canadian Pacific Railway's BC Coast Steamship Service and its demise partly at the hands of BC Ferries and their predecessor Black Ball)


...And what most here would agree is the quintessential history of BC Ferries' beginnings and expansion through to the 80s (though out of print - it was published in 1985 - it can still be found in the nautical section of many local used book stores these days)

The Ships of British Columbia
An Illustrated History of the British Columbia Ferry Corporation

November 1985, Hancock House Publishing
Or buy online, such as from this ebay listing: cgi.ebay.com/Ships-of-British-Columbia:-British-Columbia-Ferry-Corp_W0QQitemZ290364858793QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20091030?IMSfp=TL091030183002r27573 (Sorry, you'll have to copy and paste this link)

[lmtengs]

I have made a Google Map of the Best places to get great ferry views:
Click here for the Google Map

Your son will have tons of fun looking at it