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How to get from Port Hardy to Bellingham by ferry

D

DanielH

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Mar 22, 2024
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Sequoia National Park, California
Hi everyone,
I’ll be paddling most of the inside passage this summer, starting in Glacier Bay and heading south. I won’t make it all the way to Washington, and will probably need to finish my trip around Port Hardy in August. My question is, if I do have to stop there, how can I make it back to Bellingham on either public or private transport with my kayak?

Two years ago I was on a month long trip group around the Bella Bella area, and we drove to Port Hardy and then used the Ferry. But it looks like the US and Canadian ferry systems don’t connect with each other, and this time I can’t leave a car in Port Hardy. What are my options? (Besides paddling :)
Thanks for any thoughts.
Daniel
 
By far the best is to have a friend or loved one drive your car from Bellingham to meet you at Port Hardy. This will take most of a day each way and involve an expensive ferry crossing, so it's not the smallest thing to ask.

If you can't find anyone to come pick you up, you might find a place to stash your kayak in Port Hardy, fly to Vancouver, bus to Bellingham, Uber to your house, pick up your car, and drive yourself back to Port Hardy to retrieve your kayak. Total nightmare.

One other thing you might try, which might be kind of crazy, would be a one-way car rental from Port Hardy. The company might let you drive the rental all the way home to Bellingham, which totally solves your problem, but even if they make you drop it in Vancouver, you could go drop your kayak in Bellingham, then head back up to Vancouver to drop off the rental, then bus home to Bellingham. The tricky part would be putting your kayak on the roof of the rental. The rental likely wouldn't have a rack, so you'd be looking at a foam-and-straps arrangement (which you might even have to lug in your kayak all the way from Glacier Bay, unless there's a store in Port Hardy that sells them). Up to you whether you'd be comfortable driving at freeway speeds with a foam-and-straps setup. Note that the rental company might object to this little boat-hauling scheme if you were to tell them about it. You might also want to read the rental contract and auto insurance policy pretty closely. Different people have different risk tolerance for this sort of thing.

Finally, if you happen to be in the market for a new kayak for this trip, you might consider a folding kayak. You could box it up in Port Hardy and mail it home. Then you would just have to worry about getting yourself home.

Alex
 
DH, I assume that you are taking the Alaska ferry from Bellingham to Ak then paddling the rest of the way to Port Hardy. I believe the BC &AK ferries still do connect but only in Prince Rupert. You could take the BC ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert then the AK ferry from Prince Rupert to Bellingham. Adds a lot of ferry backtracking though.
 
Thanks for the ideas— especially about a friend shuttling the car, or a rental. I’ll look into the ferry schedules more carefully, but it appears that the Alaskan Marine Hwy will not be making any ferry connections with Prince Rupert this year.
 
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