Stranded in Bella Bella

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#1

More troubles for BC Ferries as contaminated engine oil has sidelined the Northern Adventure in Bella Bella.

When engine room workers on the ferry noticed that the vessel was having problems with its engine oil they did a lube oil changeover, only to discover that they did not have enough on hand to run the vessel to manufacturers specifications.

This means that until they can purify the remaining oil on board, or fly in or transport the necessary replacement fluid to the vessel, it will remain docked in Bella Bella. That leaves the vessels 56 passengers looking to other means of transportation to complete their journey and stopping the Northern Adventures schedule in its tracks…

( from  the blog a town called podunk,  click on the link below to see the entire article  atowncalledpodunk.blogspot.com/2 … 0163  ) –

#2

I wonder if it has anything to do with the rogue wave that hit it on the 30th when the captin left port hardy in hurricane force winds. cars got damaged, passengers, staff, and plates went flying, yet bcferries hasn’t said a word

#3

The ferries are starting to scare me. 

#4

BC Ferries has always scared me…
A friend who is a former worker told me several stories that made me affraid to
ever get on one…  I will from the Vancouver to Nanaimo/ Victoria…  but not the long distance ferries… 

#5

From what I heard from a staff member on board they were damn lucky not to sink during that incident. Whoever made the decision to leave on that trip is responsible for a lot of damage.

#6

My friend and his family were on that trip.  Worst ever he said.  They couldn’t stand and the beds in the room were sliding from one side to the other.  I’d rather be on an old wooden roller coaster I think.

#7

Yea that was a bad ferry ride. I was on that trip too. I dont know for sure if any cars got damaged but it could have happened. Ours was ok.

Plates, garbage cans, chairs got tossed about pretty good. Should have heard all the plates breaking as they fell in the kitchen…the gift shop was a mess. It looked like a bull had stampeded through it. Most of the stuff from the shelves was on the floor.

It was all you could do to keep your ass in a chair. 3.5 hours to cross QC Sound and from what I gather an engine broke down part way across and that was why it took so long to cross. We got to Bella Bella at 4am and left at 10am as thats when they had the engine fixed.

By the time I got my little digi camera from the car ( I forgot it there ) they had a lot of it cleaned up but I did manage to get three shots. I think I took these shots around 11:30pm. The bar on the floor had a cart tied to it and it got whipped around so hard it pulled the bar off the wall. Chairs had to be corralled as they were becoming dangerous… Left Port Hardy at 6pm Sat, arrived PR at 9:45pm Sunday. About a 30 hour trip.

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#8

Wow!  Nice trip. 
Was there really a rogue wave?  Did you guys feel it on the boat?  Where was it ( on the crossing to Port Hardy maybe)?

#9

I do not know about any rogue waves, all I know is we got hit by a lot of big waves and got tossed around pretty good. Ship leaned over quite heavily more than a few times…And it was at night so you could not see a thing. Though from the feel of some of those waves hitting the boat I’m not sure I would have wanted to see them.

If there was one, it would have been on the crossing from Port Hardy in Queen Charlotte Sound. The bridge/wheelhouse was apparently an absolute mess after the crossing too.

All in all, not a fun trip to be on, and yea I don’t think we should have been out in that weather at all.

#10

Awful stuff…  Thank goodness it never sank… 
All the more reason, I will never feel safe on long distance BC Ferries…

#11