March 15, 2019
Hornby Island is close enough for us to go on an overnight visit. Hornby Island is an interesting mix of family summer homes, Vietnam draft dodgers, artists, farmers and fishers. If you love the arts, nature and the unique, you will love this island.A 30 minute drive south down the coastal highway from our North Courtenay home and we arrive at the ferry. There are two ferries to take to get to Hornby Island, the first one is from Buckley Bay to Denman Island, sailing time is about 6 minutes. The Denman Island ferry is infamously known these days as the “yo yo”. The diesel engine powered ferry was replaced with a cable ferry a few years ago and is the only cable ferry in the B.C. Ferries fleet. The ferry has three times the fuel efficiancy as conventional ferries. It also boasts being the longest water ferry cable in the world at 1900 metres. The concept is great, the cable runs from the Buckley Bay dock to the Denman Island dock with the ferry connected to both. Unfortunately the cable isn’t always reliable, storms or boat traffic can put it out of commission but they are working on it. Today we travelled on the “yo yo” without a hitch.
Cable pulling our ferry – Buckley Bay Vancouver Island to Denman Island Once we off load on to Denman Island, it’s an interesting drive across the Island to the Hornby Island ferry. The annual herring fishery is on in the waters between Hornby and Denman and we have glimpses of the fleet as we cross the island. Denman is worth spending some time exploring but today our destination is Hornby. Both islands each have year round resident populations of approximately 1100 people. These numbers swell to 5000 in the summer time. Denman is the smaller island – 19.7 square miles, Hornby is 29.7 square miles.
We got a good look at the Herring fleet on the way home, lots of herring roe on the beaches. My daughter’s partner is out there somewhere.
Retirement Rocks 