“By The River” by Frederic Delius is, IMHO, as evocative of swirling, flowing water as any piece of music ...EVER.
Forget your Smetena. Don’t even think about Handel.
So it was with immense pleasure that I donned the earbuds of my tiny iPod Nano and savored every note of Fred’s Best while enjoying the spectacular view from the top-most excursion deck of the 375-foot long “Queen of Chilliwack” as she sailed through the Inside Passage on her way from Port Hardy to Bella Coola.
Crew of 27. 135 passengers on board, well below the 374 capacity. The music perfectly fit the journey. Soundtrack to a dreamscape.
Only Dan from Manitoba shared the immense, sunny deck with me. That’s because the forward-facing top deck is normally fiercely windblown. And the 133 other passengers were sheltered below in the ‘normal’ safe spots. But Thursday isn’t normal on the Chilliwack. It’s Barbeque Day. So….? The captain actually pulls a 180 and pilots the ship in REVERSE – stern-forward – for more than an hour… for the sole purpose of affording the onboard chef the opportunity to enjoy a wind-buffered environment for grilling perfect salmon steaks on the forward deck closest to her kitchen. I’m not making this up.
And I don’t think it’s fantastic to say that the Norwegians are overstating it a bit when they claim that the venerable (100+ year) Hurtigruten ferry from Bergen to the Arctic Circle is “the world’s most beautiful voyage.” No doubt, it is stunning. I’ve sailed it. But THE most beautiful? Well… my vote goes to the humble upstart (31-year) BC Ferry run. A breathtaking and unexcelled panorama of water, islands, peaks, clouds… and lots of sunshine. Oh. And wildlife. In our 12-hour, 156-mile voyage we saw several orcas, more than a few humpbacks, hundreds of Pacific white dolphins and so many bald eagles that I lost count.
(Ironic n.b. – The Queen of Chilliwack was originally christened the BASTO 1 after it’s 1978 launch from the shipyards… in Norway!)
Further to the Euro-connection, the passenger manifest seemed to be composed mostly of Europeans. Lots of Dutch. At least a few Germans, including my new friend Zigfreid and his competently English-conversant grandson, Brits aplenty, some Spaniards and even some French… unless I got fooled by Quebec accents.
Just like old Europe, the onboard population seemed stratified into well-defined social classes. There were the peasants, mostly Hunters (fisherman) and Gatherers (tenters and backpackers.) Then there was the great bulk of established Townfolk, traveling with their 4-wheeled aluminum cottages. Finally, there was the nobility of the onboard social order: the Tourers, pursuing their Crusade to the best of Canada’s wilderness lodges from behind the wheel of conspicuously high-end SUVs and AWD Volvo wagons.
The Port Hardy to Bella Coola voyage is more beautiful, too, than the voyage of the Alaska Marine Highway’s “Columbia” which twice weekly departs Bellingham, Washington to transit the Inside Passage on its way to Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau. I took that voyage last September, and while splendid, it did not have the spectacular inlet/fjord finale that the BC ferry delivers as it approaches Bella Coola. Words can’t adequately explain. Check out the Photo Gallery. The pink-hued mountainscape – snapped at 10:00pm -- is one of my favorites.
Next up: look to my 13th Post for details of the amazing sights and insights to be found upon arriving in Bella Coola, on the B.C. mainland.
