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Airport
Information
Port Hardy, BC: Gateway to the Inside Passage and
Alaska
by
Jerry
W. Bird
 Port
Hardy, being the Northernmost city on Vancouver
Island, is a natural marine gateway to
the Inside
Passage, which is why the ferry to Prince Rupert is
such a popular option.
The
Inside Passage, geographically speaking, spans a
vast stretch of seacoast from Seattle to Siberia,
that's dotted with islands and awesome in its
beauty. There are the San Juan and Gulf Islands,
Queen Charlotte Archipelago and Aleutians for
starters, plus Vancouver Island, which is bigger
than many European
nations.
At
one time, our family considered the Inside Passage
an annual commute, heading 'outside' from Dawson
City, Yukon via Skagway and the Alaska Panhandle
ports of Juneau and Ketchikan, and Prince
Rupert.
 The
final stop en route to Vancouver was Alert Bay,
near Port Hardy on the Northern tip of the
biggest "Adventure Island" -the one named for
Captain Vancouver. The final stop en route to
Vancouver was a native community at Alert Bay, near
Port Hardy on the Northern tip of the biggest
"Adventure Island" -the one named for Captain
Vancouver.
Sail
from Port Hardy by Ferry
Pick any
direction - North to the fabled Haida Gwa'ii (Queen
Charlotte Islands) and Alaska; east to the Central
Coast and Cariboo Chilcotin; down Island to
Campbell River, west to Cape Scott and across the
seas to Asia Pacific ports. Port Hardy airport is a
stone's throw from the Inside Passage, and BC
Ferries offers sailings to Prince Rupert and the
Central Coast. As Northern terminus of the new
Island Highway, Port Hardy is home base for a
variety of circle tours, like the one we enjoyed
this summer. For flight- seeing, few vistas compare
with the 45 minute Port Hardy jaunt, along the
Inside Passage, soaring with an eagle's eye, as the
Princess Love Boats glide by, and whales frolic
beneath our wings.
Coho
Country:
Port Hardy
is where mining and logging history was made. A
local event, "Fi-lo-mi Days," salutes the big three
money earners; fishing, logging and mining. Known
as "Coho Country", Port Hardy is famous for superb
salmon fishing, and fresh water lakes and rivers
where steelhead thrive. Mayor Hellburg showed us
the new sea walk along the harbor, next to a large
marina, which attests to the size of the local
sports fishing industry. Over 400 charter boats
operate from this scenic port . Whale watching is a
huge draw; pods of whales travel through Johnstone
Strait daily, to feed, and to visit special
beaches, where they sink to the ocean floor and rub
against rounded stones.
History and
Cultural Heritage
A short ferry ride
from Port McNeill takes you to Alert Bay on
Cormorant Island, with the U'mista Cultural
Center's treasure of aboriginal potlatch artifacts,
one of the world's tallest totem poles, traditional
Big House, the 'Namgis Burial Grounds-site of
memorial and other Totem Poles, Alert Bay
Library-Museum, Alert Bay Ecological Park, century
old Anglican Church, ect. Another ferry serves
Sointula, a Finnish fishing village on Malcolm
Island. Check out Cape Scott Wilderness Trail,
North Coast lighthouses, the old whaling station,
Stories Beach, salmon farms, Quatse River Nature
Trail and Port Hardy Fish Hatchery. For native
culture, there's the Kwakiutl Long House, Indian.
Other nearby place names include Sayward, Woss,
Nimpkish, Zeballos, Fair Harbor, Cape Scott, Coal
Harbor, Winter Harbor and Port Alice. Locating a
business or buying a retirement home? You'll find
serviced land a fraction of the cost of similar
property on Southern Vancouver Island or BC's Lower
Mainland. Port Hardy Airport Information:
250-949-6424, fax 250-949-9013.
Update courtesy of Norine Charlie, Manager
Alert Bay Visitor Info Centre
116 Fir Street, Bag Service 2800, Alert Bay, BC,
V0N 1A0
Phone: (250) 974-5024, Fax:
(250) 974-5026
email: info@alertbay.ca
, web:
http://alertbay.ca
Port
Hardy to Bella
Coola,
Central Coast and Cariboo- Chilcotin on BC Ferries
Discovery Coast Route.
I
call them the "Adventure Islands," because the
North Pacific coast and archipelago have long been
a magnet for adventurers and soldiers of fortune,
including my father, who left the family's Seattle
home for a post with the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police at Dawson City in the far Klondike. As for
the Inside Passage, the Yukon's poet laureate,
Robert Service, captured its majesty in his 'Songs
of a Sourdough', Jack London immortalized it in
Call of the Wild, and Pierre Berton chronicled it
in his book Klondike.
The
second world war, brought adventure of a different
sort, when for a time, enemy troops were dug in on
the Aleutian Islands, submarines lurked offshore,
and balloons carrying fire bombs threatened our
forests. To combat this ominous situation, the
mighty Alaska Highway system was built in 1942 - a
threefold effort involving links by land, sea and
rail. I had the privilege of documenting that part
of our history, when I was commissioned by the
Canadian Government to produce a video for the
Alaska
Highway's
50th
Anniversary
.BC
Nature-Ecology:
BC
and the Yukon combines the geography of many lands,
from desert to seacoast and alpine meadows. Its
native culture goes back thousands of years. Photo:
Ken Bird, Calgary.
Port
Hardy Links:. http://PortHardyLinks.com
.
http://VancouverIslandLinks.comnteractive
http://www.just-alaska-cruises.com/
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