CANADA: Deliveries by Boat

We were up before sunrise to hitch a ride on the delivery boat on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

The Frances Barkley carries mail, freight, groceries and passengers from Port Alberni to remote villages on the winding Alberni Inlet.

Canada's last floating Post Office, in Kildonan, is on its route.

The last stop is Bamfield, a small isolated village on Vancouver Island’s rugged west coast.

 

The water was peaceful and still at sunrise. 

The Frances Barkley was loaded with Canada Post mailbags, groceries, propane tanks, and crates of supplies for the residents and businesses along the route.

It also included two curious tagalongs.

The Alberni Inlet stretches nearly 40 kilometres (24 miles) from the head of the Alberni Valley to Bamfield and the open Pacific. 

There’s no highway connection between Port Alberni and Bamfield, only a rough logging road, which is in really bad shape after heavy rainfalls and landslides last year. In some places there is no road. This makes the sea the most practical and dependable link.

Along the route small fishing lodges, remote cabins, and a few seasonal or year-round residents rely on the boat for mail and supplies. Many of the homes are accessible only by water, and the residents include fishermen, lodge operators, scientists and off-grid families. 

 

A small settlement.

At every stop, locals arrived by small boat or gathered at tiny docks to collect their deliveries. 

When we had a home, over 3 1/2 years ago, we used to receive Amazon deliveries right to our door at all hours during the day. Here, in the Alberni inlet, deliveries are 3 times a week. That’s it!

Building supplies come by boat too. Imagine the added supply chain issues with that!

This is the Canada Post stop where they were waiting for us to arrive. Due to rising costs of mail delivery this may not be around for much longer. 

The closer to the west coast the wetter it got. 

The final destination is Bamfield, a small village which is divided by an inlet on the western edge of Vancouver Island. 

It was foggy and rainy. A friend grew up in Bamfield in a fishing family. I sent him photos and he said that weather was par for the course.

Suitable rain gear is required.

Bamfield is home to fishermen, marine scientists and a few artists and retirees. No John, the weather will not work for me.

East Bamfield hosts the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, a research facility run by several Canadian universities. The centre occupies the site of a historic telegraph cable station built in 1902 that once connected Canada with Australia.

I liked the mist on this spiderweb.

I thought it was cute they have a Beautification Bamfield effort.

And then there are the government facilities. 

Some hardy souls definitely have a sense of humour.

Obviously someone didn't read the sign.....

I can’t say the remote lifestyle would be for John nor me, but then again, the lifestyle we are living now would not be for everyone else either. 

As they say, different strokes for different folks.