Looks like Gabriola ferry service will be back to normal in a couple of days. Here’s BC Ferries’ news release on the topic: Regular ferry service between Nanaimo Harbour and Gabriola Island will resume in the morning of Thursday, September 1, following the re-opening of Nanaimo Harbour terminal. The terminal was temporarily closed on August [...]
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Here’s something to consider if you plan on taking the ferry between Nanaimo and Gabriola this weekend. BC Ferries says: Please be advised that high traffic volumes are expected between Nanaimo and Gabriola Island due to the Gabriola Theatre Festival held on the island from August 19 to 21. Customers are encouraged to travel to [...]
How long will it be until the Gabriola ferry service gets back to normal? BC Ferries says: Further to the thorough assessment of the structural damage to the dock at the Nanaimo Harbour terminal it is anticipated that the work required to re-enforce the existing structure will take approximately 16 days. As a result the [...]
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This is the water taxi that’s serving Gabriola at the moment, going back and forth between Descanso Bay and Nanaimo Harbour. (This because of the accident that damaged the trestle where the Quinsam normally docks in Nanaimo Harbour. The Quinsam is running as well, but it goes to Duke Point at the moment.) Here’s some [...]
Filed in boating,ferries,Gabriola Island 9 Comments so far
From the Times Colonist: Gabriola Island ferry service disrupted after truck plunges off terminal. Ferry service between Nanaimo and Gabriola Island is disrupted today after a paving truck damaged the terminal going into the water. The truck went off the Nanaimo Harbour terminal trestle and into the water during overnight paving work. The driver got [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 7 Comments so far
An article about ever-rising ferry fares in one of the Nanaimo papers is mostly the same stuff we always read in these articles. But there is this Gabriola content, too: Rick and Dave Super live on Gabriola Island and they refuse to drive on to the MV Quinsam whenever they come to Nanaimo, preferring to [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 12 Comments so far
You had a book of paper tickets for the Gabriola ferry, and were surprised when BC Ferries stopped honouring these tickets. I’ve already mentioned the class-action lawsuit for people affected by this. Now the Province reports: Probe launched into B.C. Ferries cash grab. [Source: sorry, article no longer available.] Well, it’s a start, I suppose.
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I blogged about Changes for Gabriola-bound ferry passengers a few days ago: BC Ferries has ripped down the waiting room building in Nanaimo Harbour. Today the Daily News has a bit more on that story. In their article, Waiting room at Gabriola ferry terminal gets upgrade, they say the renovations will cost $400,000. The new [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island,Nanaimo 3 Comments so far
You’re away, but planning to come home to Gabriola soon? Don’t plan to spend any time in the waiting room at the Nanaimo Harbour terminal, because it’s not there anymore. See that photo? The view shows Gabriola in the background, and one of those huge Machines of Destruction where the waiting room building used to [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island,Nanaimo 8 Comments so far
If you summer on Gabriola but live elsewhere, you may have been surprised last summer when you returned to the island. You’d saved a booklet of ferry fare tickets for the Quinsam from the year before… and nobody told you they’d expire before you returned to Gabriola. Money gone, and plenty of you were annoyed [...]
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This is the Quinsam’s on-deck telephone, which has come to us straight from some previous decade. The directions: Select your station. Turn crank clockwise until you hear a loud beeptone. Lift off receiver and keep button pressed during conversation. Are there other odd old phones on Gabriola, or on ships nearby? I’ve always wondered. The [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 5 Comments so far
From the Gulf Island Driftwood: Petition seeks to make ferries an election issue. A Gabriola Island resident is seeking public support for a petition she hopes will make ferry affordability an election issue. Doris Gallas created the online petition calling for B.C. Ferries to return to public control as an essential service under the Ministry [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 13 Comments so far
Looks like we can expect Gabriola ferry fares to keep going up. The Province explains: B.C. Ferries warns major fare hikes are on the way for minor routes. In the interview with Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, Hahn said his company’s submission, if accepted, would mean minor routes could see a 14- to 16-per-cent increase [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island One Response so far
We can always find out where the big ferries are. Just go the BC Ferries web site and find the Vessel Positions page. The major routes are all there. See http://orca.bcferries.com:8080/cc/conditions/maps.asp. The maps are really neat. They display the position of the vessel on a satellite map, Last Update, Vessel, Status and Destination. Alas, the [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 3 Comments so far
The Tyee reports that Ferry Maintenance Mess-up Hurt Passengers. In the days after the Queen of Nanaimo ferry slammed into the berth on Mayne Island, toppling motorcycles, injuring several people and sending one passenger to hospital with a head injury, a company spokesperson blamed the accident on line from crab traps getting tangled in the [...]
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Now that Gabriola is back in the Season of Serious Rain, prepared people are sporting serious raingear. This member of the Quinsam’s crew is decked out in a bright yellow sou’wester — just the thing for the Salish Sea’s fashion runway!
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Travelling between Gabriola and Vancouver? If you go through Departure Bay as a taxi-taking foot passenger, you’ll be relieved to learn that the no taxi at the terminal insanity is coming to an end. The Daily News reports that BC Ferries and Nanaimo taxi companies have come to an agreement.
You’ll remember that Greyhound recently decided not to drive aboard BC Ferries, but instead to dump passengers and their luggage off at the ferry terminal. Suddenly the bus part of your Gabriola to Vancouver trip became way less convenient. Well. If this issue is important to you, you may want to read the update from [...]
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