Port Edward and Prince Rupert, British Columbia

We had 3 days to explore this area before boarding the ferry to Haines and our trip through some of the inside passage. It has been interesting. We arrived June 14th.  There was just 3 campgrounds in this area: a Provincial Park that is about 20 miles from PR; a private park in Port Edward about 10 miles from PR; and a park just 1 mile from the ferry terminal in PR. We looked at the PR one and decided to go to the Port Edward cg. Built literally on a hill and terraced to get the most units on the property, it really was not too bad. Lots of greenery. 

Saturday, we toured a reconstructed cannery, the North Pacific Cannery. Very interesting. We saw how they did the canning manually in the late 1800's and then how the mechanization came in. This cannery was used up to 1980. This cannery is on the Inverness Inlet. This day was the first day that the commercial fisherman were allowed to gillnet. There was quite a lot of boats out with their nets but we did not see them bring much at all in. They are only allowed to use the gillnets about 3 days at this time of the season so a poor day makes a big impact on them. Hope this doesn't foretell poor fishing for Les?

 

 

They have a Mess Hall here that is working as a cafe. They had Salmon Burgers, Salmon Cakes, Salmon Melts, Salmon Chowder and more on their menu. Les had the Salmon Cakes and I tried the Chowder. Both were delicious. We topped off our meal with a homemade cinnamon bun. One was big enough for both of us!

 Monday we took the day to stock up on supplies, fuel, funds and do some sight seeing. The diesel is more expensive here in Canada. Alberta was only about $0.50 per gallon more but British Columbia is running higher, around $1.30 higher. Groceries are approximately 30% higher.

As you can see Prince Rupert is a crossroads for many people and places as it has the ferries, cruise ships and rail services bring people here. It is also a very big fishing and freight shipping hub.

 We heard of a local favorite, Dolly's Seafood Market, that not only sells fresh seafood but has a handful of tables to enjoy their restaurant dishes. We stopped and they were full so we walked the Cow Bay area a bit. Taking in the info on the port, then returned to find a table open. Les had the seafood combo which included haddock, shrimp, scallops and smoked salmon. Yum! I had the fish and chips, halibut. Oh so good!

 Other sights in the area were a beautiful sunken garden and small island in the inlets filled with pines.

It has been interesting to spend some time here but we are anxious to continue our adventure. We leave tomorrow, June 18th, on the ferry around 3:30 pm. We will be traveling through the inside passage to Haines, arriving midnight Wednesday. One day and 9 hours on the ferry. We splurged and booked a cabin since they do not permit you to stay in your campers and we did not relish the other options: sleep in recliners on the observation decks or pitch a tent outside on the deck.

We saw a govt rec campground that looks good outside Haines. We will try for a site there first. The wildlife viewing here is suppose to be really good. Maybe seeing bear fishing for the salmon that are just starting to run now.