Sunday, Sept 16th - Discovery Coast Passage

Sept 16 – Port Hardy to Bella Coola
The Discovery Coast Passage with BC Ferries

Very early morning. Had to be at the harbour between 6.30 and 7.00 in order not to lose our reservation. The place seemed to be operated by women only. One at the counter, another measuring the vehicle and checking us in. Same in the office. When I mentioned this to a friendly BC Ferries’ employee she said „Well actually now that you mention it, we did have a man working here last year, but we never saw him“. We also found out that the whole Port Hardy terminal would be upgraded with the introduction of a new ferry in 2009. The cars were parked in four lanes and you could see the most interesting vehicles like the yellow Mercedes truck with an African background. Boarded the ferry and took off as scheduled to a 13 hour journey. We got to know a nice couple from Richmond/Vancouver as we always seemed to head to the same direction at the same time (from the car up to the deck, to breakfast, to the same side of the outside deck, same seating area inside...). Joan and Chris are on their way up to Whitehorse in the Yukon where their daughter lives. What a great trip! Humpback whales, pacific white-sided dolphins, seal, spectacular scenery. And again we were lucky with the weather. When we woke up in Port Hardy, it was raining and when we left the port it was still overcast.
Arrived in Bella Coola. Pitch black. No map or any other source of information available where to find some accommodation. So if you decide to travel up there, we suggest that you do a little travelling planning ahead of time unless you are the adventureous type and don’t care to overnight in a parking lot. That reminds me: down in Port Hardy (or up, depending where you are) BC Ferries’ offers their customers to overnight at the parking lot due to the early check-in time. Nevertheless, it might be a bit noisy as the vessel is being checked and prepared for its next day journey.
We chose to overnight at Bella Coola Motel & RV Park as we were really tired and hadn’t made reservations with Gnome’s in Hagensborg. The Bella Coola Motel & RV Park is a grassy area, no hook-up available. Shower and kitchen house okay but if one doesn’t mind to drive at night, Gnome’s RV in Hagensborg would definitely be the better choice. On the other hand we wouldn’t have experienced the beautiful rainbow the next morning on route to Hagensborg.