{"id":44795,"date":"2012-09-15T05:09:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T11:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=44795"},"modified":"2020-06-20T20:52:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T00:52:37","slug":"ferry-to-vancouver-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=44795","title":{"rendered":"The Ferry to Vancouver Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was a road trip we’d been putting off all summer. Mostly because of logistics. Do we rent a car in Vancouver and take a ferry to the island? Do we catch a seaplane and rent a car on the island? Do we take the ferry over and rent a car on the other side? For some reason planning, this little adventure seemed difficult. In the end, we opted for rental in Vancouver and to drive onto the ferry. <\/p>\n

I also knew this would probably be our last trip to Vancouver Island for a very long time… now that Papa has passed on. This made the trip rather bittersweet.<\/p>\n

Logistically, driving to the island is rather easy. There are two ferry terminals on the mainland that feed the island: Horseshoe Bay and Tsawwassen. Both go to Naniamo and Tsawwassen goes to Victoria. You can reserve your spot online on the BC Ferries website<\/a> for a fee; or cross your fingers, head over to the terminal, and hope you’ll make it on the ferry. One of my co-workers had no trouble with the second option. On the day we travelled, only reserved passengers made it on the ferry. Everyone else had to wait.<\/p>\n

Horseshoe Bay is the closest to downtown Vancouver but it is also the busiest. We did the 30-minute drive to Tsawwassen and the park-car-get-coffee-play-in-park-wait with everyone else. It’s not so bad and the coffee is rather good (from Salt Spring Island). At least they have something for people to do while waiting. I had visions of waiting for endless minutes with an impatient-hungry-how-much-longer child.<\/p>\n

Once on the boat, there is plenty to do, see and enjoy. And, if you’re lucky you’ll see orcas or a dolphin or two.<\/p>\n