Canada Guide
Vancouver Island
Port Hardy
Dominated by big-time copper mining, a large fishing fleet and the usual logging concerns, PORT HARDY, a total of 485km from Victoria and 230km from Campbell River, is best known among travellers as the departure point for ships plying one of the more spectacular stretches of the famous Inside Passage to Prince Rupert (and thence to Alaska) and the more recently introduced Discovery Coast Passage. If you have time to kill waiting for boats, which leave from Bear Cove 10km away from the town centre, you could drop into the modest and occasionally open town museum at 7110 Market St (donation) or visit the Quatse River Salmon Hatchery (Mon– Fri 8/9am–4.30pm) on Hardy Bay Rd, just off Hwy 19 almost opposite the Pioneer Inn.
If possible, though, time your arrival to coincide with one of the Inside Passage sailings that leave every other day in summer and once or twice weekly in low season. Bus services aren't really scheduled to do this for you, with a Laidlaw bus generally timetabled to meet each incoming sailing from Prince Rupert. The Port Hardy ferry terminal is visible from town but is actually 10km away at Bear Cove, where buses stop before carrying on to terminate opposite the infocentre, 7250 Market St (year-round Mon– Fri 9am–5pm; early June to late Sept 8am–8pm; 
250/949-7622, www.ph-chamber.bc.ca ).
If you stay in town overnight, leave plenty of time to reach the ferry terminal – sailings in summer are usually around 7.30am. North Island Transportation provides a shuttle service between the ferry and the town's airport, main hotels and the bus station at 7210 Market St just south of Hastings St and the infocentre, whence it departs ninety minutes before each sailing ( 250/949-6300 for information or to arrange a pick-up from hotel or campsite); otherwise call a taxi ( 250/949-8000).
The Inside Passage
One of Canada's great trips, the Inside Passage aboard BC Ferries' Queen of the North, between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert on the British Columbia mainland, is a cheap way of getting what people on the big cruise ships are getting: 274 nautical miles of mountains, islands, waterfalls, glaciers, sea lions, whales, eagles and some of the grandest coastal scenery on the continent. By linking up with the Greyhound bus network or the VIA Rail terminal at Prince Rupert, it also makes a good leg in any number of convenient itineraries around British Columbia. Some travellers will have come from Washington State, others will want to press on from Prince Rupert to Skagway by boat and then head north into Alaska and the Yukon. A lot of people simply treat it as a cruise, and sail north one day and return south to Port Hardy the next. If nothing else, the trip's a good way of meeting fellow travellers and taking a break from the interminable trees of the BC interior.
The boat carries 750 passengers and 160 cars and runs every two days, departing at 7.30am on odd-numbered days in Aug, even-numbered days in June, July, Sept and the first half of Oct. The journey takes around fifteen hours, arriving in Prince Rupert about 10.30pm, sometimes with a stop at Bella Bella. On board there are cafeterias, restaurants and a shop (among other services); at the last, pick up the cheap and interesting BC Ferries Guide to the Inside Passage for more on the trip.
The cost from mid-June to mid-Sep (peak) is $116 single for a foot passenger (May & Oct $83; Nov– April $62), $275 for a car (May & Oct $193; Nov– April $146); reservations are essential throughout the summer season if you're taking a car or want a cabin. Bookings can be made by phone or online ( 1-888/223-3779 toll-free in BC, 250/386-3431 from elsewhere, 
www.bcferries.com ), or by post to BC Ferry Corporation, 1112 Fort St, Victoria, BC, V8V 4V2.