Portland Island - Which Side

[sgrant]

Ok, here's another one for you. I've been told the answer to this before, but have forgotten it.

Why do the Tsawassen/Swartz Bay ferries sometimes travel on the east side, and sometimes on the west side, of Portland Island?

[Low Light Mike]

I think that they take one side inbound, and the other side outbound.

And the minor vessels come right up the middle between the 2 islands, and leave the same way.

That way, there are 3 distinct shipping lanes around Swartz Bay.

[sgrant]

That's not the answer I heard before, which has something to do with tides. I have seen and been on ferries going in both directions on both sides of Portland.

[Retrovision]

I've always wondered the same thing, and the best and most likely conclusion that I can come up with, after having travelled to and from Swartz Bay dozens of times and having watched with this same question in mind, is ammount of ferry traffic and where each vessel is headed. Maybe this is determined by the tower at the terminal, the same as where the decision for what berth a vessel will dock at is made.

Here you can see an 'S' Class vessel taking the western-most route, while a 'V' Class vessel takes the centre route:


And here, maybe in order to avoid the path of the 'Major' vessels due to the fog, all three 'Minor' vessels heading for Swartz Bay use the western-most passage:

The Queen of Cumberland and the Mayne Queen shown flanking the Skeena Queen have to go relatively far away from their standard routing to take this route, hence the fog as possible reason for re-routing - still a matter of traffic in the end, though, and who's path the smaller vessels might be in, citing weather as reasoning.

...So there could be many reasons, but all the most logical ones, to me atleast, centre around traffic, not tides, etc.

[Islander15]

It has to do with tides, traffic and space. The spirits just barely fit through goss pass(the center route) so they typically leave through arbutus and come in through fircone. It is a little longer but they are faster than the V class. When the tides are quite low the V class will go in through fircone as well.

[kylefossett]

the spirits have never been through the center passage. the v class do depending on the tide. and i personally have never taken the fulford run any way other than the center passage.

[Curtis]

Put it this way.

The Ship that departs Berth 1 or an S Class ship always exits via the west pass.
The Gulf Island Vessels and the V Class depending on tides can enter and exit via the centre pass.
And all the ships that enter Swartz Bay can use east pass.

[Scott]

Plus there's the fact that there is minimal turning of the vessel. The Spirit ships come from the west, but they don't have to turn around. They just line up with the dock and slide/back in. Most of you know this, but if anyone doesn't, the ferries always (almost always?) load/offload from the stern at Swartz Bay and from the bow at Tsawwassen. Then when the ferry leaves, it's straight out.

[Koastal Karl]

I took the Queen of Saanich once when she left Swartz Bay the same way the Spirits do out and around the island. I have also been on the SOVI when she has left SB the same way she came in. I have seen the Skeena Queen coming from Fulford the the opposite way the Spirits depart SB. When the Burnaby was on the run I saw her come in that same way too. I boarded the Cumberland at Swartz Bay in berth 1 one time.

[sgrant]

I went to the trouble of finding the answer I got to this question on an entirely different discussion site:

"Heading southbound (into Swartz Bay) the smaller "V" Class ferries will go 'round the north side of Portland and through Gosse Pass. The large "Spirit" Class ships, due to draft considerations, will take the south side, along Moresby Channel, and into Swartz.

At times of lower than usual tide, "V" Class vessels will also opt for the Moresby Channel route."

So this is pretty much as some described above.

thanks!

[mac177]

One word. DRAFT!