A Dramatic Ocean Passage

A couple hours south of Prince Rupert, the ferry entered the Grenville Channel. This is a remarkable slot in the coastal mountains, about 25 miles inland from the open ocean. In its narrowest place, it's only 1400 feet wide, but it's many hundreds of feet deep. My ferry, the MV Northern Adventure, is a large ship...117 meters long, displacing almost 10 thousand tons, but it cruised through the channel easily. Mountains tower 2 to 4 thousand feet almost straight up from the water; U shaped glaciated valleys plunge almost to sea level. On the north sides of the mountains, the snow came down fairly close to the sea, only about a thousand feet up in some places. Waterfalls were everywhere.

The Northern Adventure cruised smoothly through the channel, creating surf along both banks. This was the most spectacular part of the cruise and it was awesome! Pictures don't do it justice...you simply have to come aboard!