Early in the morning we headed northwest to Horseshoe Bay to catch the Ferry to Vancouver Island. Our departure was not scheduled until 12:30 PM but we left several hours to explore Whytecliffe Park. This park is a photographer's paradise with sweeping ocean and island views. It is also a scuba divers haven because of its calm waters. When we arrived, there were close to thirty divers suiting up in the parking lot. We followed them down a long sandy lane to the cobble beach.
It was low tide, which made it possible to reach a rocky outcropping island accessible. While Ilene sat on a rock on the beach with a Sudoku puzzle, I went exploring.
From the top of the island, the view of the Strait of Georgia - with snowcapped mountains tumbling down to a flotilla of sunlit sailboats bobbing delicately on ocean waves - just took my breath away.
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| Horseshoe Bay |
Neither one of us was saying much about it, but the thought of driving our brand new car onto a boat was making us extremely anxious. We had taken one of our old cars on an NC ferry for the short crossing from Fort Fisher to Southport several years earlier. But this was different. This was a two hour crossing on the open ocean. I kept telling myself that it would be OK. Lots of people do this without any problems. But this was our NEW car. We were told that it was critical to be in the queue for the ferry at least 30 minutes prior to departure. Several local people had told us horror stories about missing a ferry, and how long the delays are to get booked on another one, which added to our anxiety. We arrived at the gate, paid for our ticket and pulled into one of the several lines of cars that were also waiting to board, then we noticed that our ferry had just arrived at the pier and was beginning to unload its passengers and vehicles coming off the island. For a long time, Ilene just sat there quietly watching them disembark, then she said quietly, almost to herself, "300." I looked at her and said, "What do you mean - 300?" She said, "I just counted the cars that drove off the ferry. There were 300. And that includes tractor trailers, trucks pulling boats, campers and recreation vehicles, which I just counted as one." It began to dawn on us that this was not your typical NC ferry. I am not sure whether that made us feel any safer, but if we went down, we wouldn't be doing it alone.
Finally the cars ahead of us started to move. I was not at all sure how this was going to work, but we would just follow directions and everything would be alright. That was my mantra anyway. I wondered if they were going to strap our car down to the deck like they do cars on those auto transport trailers. We were surrounded by cars so there was no backing out. We were committed. As we inched our way closer, the boat began to loom over us. It was HUGE! We were directed onto a ramp about four lanes wide and suddenly we were off the dock and heading down into the dark belly of the ship. I felt like Jonah! I prayed that I would not be spewed up on a beach somewhere like he was. We were directed to park our car and then head topside. And that was it. Park you car and get out. No tie downs, no nothing. Just us and about 300 other vehicles.
We grabbed our picnic basket and headed up to the top deck, hoping to find someplace where we could eat our lunch. On the fore deck there were several round picnic tables bolted to the deck. If they were bolted down, why was my car not strapped down? I decided not to share that thought with Ilene. After lunch we headed inside to see what everyone else was doing. We were shocked to find what appeared to be a small city with a full cafeteria, full-service dining room, bank, Starbucks, gift shop, and lots of comfortable lounge chairs, many of which were filled with people cheering for the world cup soccer game being broadcast on a big screen TV. People everywhere seemed to be relaxed and enjoying themselves. Gradually we too began to settle in and not worry so much. All in all, it was a delightful crossing. I spent time on the upper deck with others, hoping to spot a whale; but we didn't see any. Maybe they were all headed to Nineveh! We were on our way to Victoria.
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| Nanaimo, Vancouver Island |
