Inside Passage, Haida Gwaii Travel Guide

By Darshan Montgomery

Introduction

Have you ever been to the edge of the Earth? I hear it is very beautiful there and full of unique experiences. Come with me on my trip up Vancouver Island to Port hardy, take the inside passage up to Prince Rupert and experience the incredible beauty of Haida Gwaii. This immersive guide will give you a first hand account of my adventures and how to avoid some pitfalls of travelling in this wonderful part of the world. This guide can take well over an hour to read, if there are just certain bits of information you are looking for, just use the side bar to navigate through the different topics and headings. Many images are available in a higher resolution (larger), just click on them to get a better view.

Planning the Inside Passage / Haida Gwaii Trip

I've been working hard, too hard for a long time now and I knew I needed to take an extended break or my head was going to explode. The store where I work can be a busy place and has more than its share of problems that come with the shipping business. Items broken, missing or not on time frazzles peoples nerves, and by extension mine. One way or another I needed to have a vacation and get out of Victoria BC.

I've had a few places swimming around in my mind for a while, but none that I actually made some plans for. I've been all over North America and even down to Cuba once, none of these places really did much for me in the way of giving me a feeling that “I just witnessed or experienced something really worth while”. I still have yet to experience the treasures of the orient, the class of Europe and the beauty of Africa, but baby steps... baby steps, I'll start with my region of the world before I really start spreading my wings and travel to distant destinations.

I love nature, waterfalls, endless beaches, deep dark forests, and all sorts of wildlife. I also enjoy travelling, be it by car, bus, plane or ferry. British Columbia Canada is my home and it seems, though I've been here my whole life, I've only seen a small fraction of it. I live in Victoria BC and I always wanted to drive up to Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island. From Port Hardy there is a ferry you can catch that goes along the west coast of BC along the inside passage to Prince Rupert. There is another ferry you can catch in Prince Rupert that will take you over to Skidegate on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). You could also take the plane there, but I felt I would be leaving out a big part of the trip, which is, the splendour, the adventure and opportunities that only the journey would provide. I started to focus my thoughts on a vacation to the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands).

I was planning on taking my vacation from September 15th to October 1st. That would be the earliest time I could go, My boss's wife was in Japan at the time of planning and he was on a motorcycle trip. The middle of September would be the best time to go because they would both be back and could run the store in my absence.

I've seen pictures of a places called Ninstints and Skedans in Gwaii Haanas National Park on the south end of the Queen Charlotte Islands that has some of the oldest weathered totem poles still standing near long abandoned Haida villages. These places are quite famous, the great Canadian painter Emily Carr painted a picture of them and it is now considered some of her greatest works. Ninstints, Skedans and the surrounding archipelago is such a unique place on our planet that it is now a designated UNESCO World Heritage reserve. The southern Queen Charlotte Islands (Gwaii Haanas) is also colloquially referred to as “The Galapagos of the north”.

So in planning for my adventure I would first need to make arrangements to go to Gwaii Haanas, once that was accomplished I would plan the rest of my itinerary around the expedition. Starting my search on the internet, I found one company that would fly you into Ninstints on their float plane and you could spend a few hours exploring and be given a tour by the Haida watchmen. This tour cost in excess of $3000.00, I did not have the budget for that kind of tour. I then turned to boat tours, after researching a few of them and reading up on some reviews, I chose the Moresby Explorers. I found some good reviews about them, the price was all inclusive and they have extensive experience.

The tour would be over a period of 4 days and would take you to the old native Hiada villages of Ninstints, Skedans and Tanu; a day of kayaking and another day at Hot Springs Island. At evenings we would stay in their floating cabin and at a Bed and Breakfast in Rose Harbour. Meals are provided for and it only cost $1350.00, that was a lot more of a trip than the plane would have provided. I called them and made a booking, they required a %25 non refundable deposit, in the event of a cancellation they assured me that they would refund my money. With my trip in order I then started to arrange my accommodations.

Though there are no proper hotels on the Queen Charlotte Islands, they do have a few motels or inns, most of the places to stay are at lodges, bed and breakfasts, a dorm or hostel style accommodation, campsites and rental cabins. I was feeling kind of nostalgic for the days I used to spend as a youth on Saturna Island (one of BC's Southern Gulf Islands) we had no running water and no electricity, our only entertainment was a small radio, books and mother nature.

So I opted for the cabin, I chose www.beachcabins.com on the north coast past Masset. The price seemed right, the pictures were fantastic, Toni has a great website with a lot of information on it and those cabins also had a solar shower (I'm nostalgic for the solar showers too). The cost was $65.00 per night, an additional %5 off if you stay 7 days or longer and I had to pay half in advance as a deposit.

It took a bit of finagling with the accommodations and the ferry schedule. You see, the ferry along the north coast of BC is not that frequent and since I needed to make a ferry transfer in Prince Rupert it meant that I would be there for a couple of nights. But, I did the best I could and made a few arrangements with the help of a few hotel reviews online.

The ferry system for northern BC is a little different than the ferry system in southern BC. In the North you have to reserve your spot on the ferry, especially if you are with a vehicle. There is a standby system available, but in peak summer months if you do not have a reservation you may have to wait for the next ferry, that could mean waiting for days... no fun. It is important to plan and make arrangements in advance as much as possible when travelling by BC Ferries in the north.

I wanted to catch the ferry in Port Hardy for September 15th and then connect with the next ferry going to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Around mid September is when the changes their schedule rotation occur, and I must admit I got a bit confused with the changes. I even used BC Ferries online booking system, but I didn't realize the follies of my ways till about 20 minutes later, and after the terms and conditions stated there is a fee for reservation changes. I decided to give BC Ferries a phone call at 1-888-223-3779 (250-386-3431 outside North America), with the help of one of their representatives she was able to make all the arrangements and I didn't have to pay the re booking fee. For the ferry trip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert it cost me $150.00 for one adult and $300.00 for my regular sized vehicle. (prices have gone up since then, confirm prices with BC Ferries for more accurate details) For the ferry trip to the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) it cost me $35.00 for one adult and $125.00 for my undersized car times two, for there and back. The way back was an overnight trip so I reserved a cabin for around $60.00.

So with all my reservations in order all I had to do was wait till September 14th, that was the day I would set off on my fantastic adventure. To research and read reviews about the places you are going to see and visit only seems to give you a glimpse of maybe what to expect. The hype is sometimes hard to distinguish from helpful advice. It is always interesting to do those things you research and then decide for yourself if this was all, or more than I expected; differentiating and noticing the differences between the over rated and the under rated. I'm sure I was in for some fantastic experiences and maybe a few disappointments along the way, but either way, I was naively unaware of the fantastic adventure before me.

Driving up Island

Practically jumping out of my skin, September 14th had finally rolled around, I had my bags packed and the car gassed up ready to go. First thing that morning I started my 500 kilometre drive up to Port Hardy. Past Courtenay BC there is a town called Cambell River, the last vestige of anything resembling cosmopolitanism on Vancouver Island, I wanted to pop in to the our franchise partner store there and say hi to the owner and get directions to the Cambell River Maritime Museum where they have recreated the boat that appeared on an earlier version of the Canadian $5.00 bill. Henrietta was very helpful and her directions made it easy to find.

The Maritime Museum in Campbell River is down near the waterfront near a sheltered harbour and a long pier. Now this pier is indeed a fisherman's dream come true, its railings have holes in them so you don't have to hold your fishing rods all the time There are raised wooden captains seats that let you sit while you are fishing at the same time. There are even glass enclosed shelters, so if its a bit rainy or windy you can put your pole into one of the holes provided in the railing then go inside the shelter and watch your line, when it starts tugging just go back outside and real it in.

So now you just caught the big one and your significant other is giving you the look as if to say, “I'm not gonna clean that thing”. Not to worry my friend, for you are in fisherman's heaven and all is provided for you. They have handy dandy little cleaning stations where you can take care of the nasty fish cleaning business quickly and easily. If you find yourself down at the pier without fishing pole or licence there is burger stand at the front of the pier that will rent you a pole and sell you a fishing licence. What more could you want, accept maybe a fish to bite?

When I was walking out to the pier I notice at the foot of it by the breakwater for the harbour, people were fishing there and not on the pier. Have you ever seen the old, old cartoon where the guy is casting his line, catching a fish, re casting and instantly catching another fish and this keeps repeating and repeating? Well I witnessed the real life version of this, as soon as these people were casting there lines, within 30 seconds or so they would catch a fish. I guess due to the harbours shape the salmon like to hang out on the marina side of the breakwater, and in great numbers too.

So off I was to go take my picture of that famous five dollar bill ship in Campbell River's Maritime Museum. When I went in there was a $5.00 admission fee (the irony did escape me till just now) and you have to take the tour, you cannot just go in and walk around and look at the displays. Well I had a bit of a schedule to keep and all I really wanted was take a picture of that fine ship, so I declined the tour and continued on my journey. So just to reiterate, If you go to the maritime Museum in Campbell River it costs $5.00 and be prepared to take the tour.

The drive from Campbell River north to Port Hardy is pretty scenic and remote, a much different contrast to the drive from Victoria to Campbell River. There is one stop of interest on this stretch of the road called Seymour Narrows. This is the narrowest part of the inside passage between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island. "One of the vilest stretches of water in the world." according to the legendary Captain George Vancouver and especially Ripple Rock that was infamous for taking its unfair share of ships to their watery grave. On April 5th 1958 was blown up with dynamite, at the time it was the largest non-nuclear explosion to ever take place on purpose. Its worth it to take a few minutes to stop here, read the signs and enjoy the view.

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