Long Day

We were up at 4:30 this morning in order to give us enough time to make to the ferry terminal at 5:30 for check in. 

Kind of odd really; we were given standby reservations for the ferry, but were assured there would be no problem getting on because we are on motorcycles.  We paid our fare when we arrived this morning and were given boarding passes. It was then announced that all standby passengers needed to check in at the office to wait for their names to be called to board and travel on this ferry. Upon checking in, we were told: "oh go ahead, you're on motorcycles".  Seemed like a lot of fussing around if we were going anyway. 

The ferry departed at 7:28, 2 minutes ahead of schedule, for its 322 mile trip down the inside passage.  Beautiful trip cruising between all of the islands. Lots of humpback whales breaching.  We even saw a small black bear swimming toward an island.  A long cruise however. 

It should be around midnight when we arrive in Port Hardy. We'll see if we can find a room in town and wait for daylight.  With all of the wildlife around, it wouldn't be safe to travel in the dark. 

Funny how things turn out sometimes.  The cruise only took 16 hours. We docked at 11:30 PM.  As soon as we could offload, we made a "beeline" for town, to look for a hotel.  About 2 miles.  On the ship, we had heard that the motels fill up pretty fast on ferry nights.  Boy, do they!  It seems that most of the people that needed rooms had made reservations before hand.  Not a room to be found in Port Hardy.  One of the motel keepers suggested that we try the next town down.  "You should be able to find a room in Port McNeill", she said.  (Even though the call she placed to one of the two hotels on our behalf said they had no available rooms.).  "The other hotel isn't as nice, but they'll have rooms", she said.  Wrong again!

I forgot to mention Roy.  We met Roy while in the ferry line waiting to board the ship in Prince Rupert.  Roy is from Edmonton, Alberta and is out on a motorcycle ride too,.  We got to chatting about motorcycles and trips and what not.  We only saw Roy briefly while on the ship but it seems he was in the same situation we were as far as how to wait for daylight; camp, get a room or whatever.  Roy had joined us in our search for a room. He too made the 25 mile ride down to Port McNeill, only to find the "No Vacancy" signs blazing on both of the motels. 

Now, what do we do?  A short cruise around the small town turned up nothing… except, the lights were on in the laundromat.  A check of the door revealed it was unlocked!  It is dry.  It is warm.  It has chairs.  And it even has a washroom!

It's a little after 3:00 AM as I'm writing this. The 3 of us are curled up or slumped in chairs napping here and there.  We'll see what daylight brings…