The ferry services insist you line up 2 hours before sailing or your booking goes to standby. So for a 7.30 am sailing we dutifully found ourselves at 5.30 am in a surprisingly long line at Bear Cove waiting in the dark and the rain, our only solace hot tea and coffee we brought with us.

Bear Cove is the ferry port for Port Hardy

It took the best part of 2 hours to load us but we finally boarded and headed for the buffet breakfast where we made sure we got value for money. The journey to Prince Rupert takes 15 hours, a very long day of blissful and gentle sailing between the many islands. There is no internet and I am writing this still an hour out of port in the hope we will have service when we arrive.

The scenery is again heavily treed hills and mountains, this time from a water perspective. Along the way are some sparse and scattered towns and some nice lighthouses.

We had high hopes of seeing some wildlife today but very little eventuated. Occasionally the captain helped by announcing a whale on port side whereupon dozens of passengers would race to port to catch a glimpse. One baby whale gave a great demonstration of fluke slapping but that is as good as it got.

Did further damage at the buffet dinner. Calorie count in high, out nil. A relaxing day of smooth sailing. Tomorrow we explore Prince Rupert.