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Victoria to Seattle

February 15, 2017 – Victoria, BC, Canada to Seattle, WA, USA via Victoria Clipper catamaran ferry

2017 Southern Arizona & Astronomy

Clipper Navigation calls me this morning to let me know they are advancing the departure date of the sailing from 5PM to 2PM in order to avoid the predicted strong winds. I quickly finish packing and tidy up what I need to at home before calling a taxi at 12:30PM to take me to the ferry terminal downtown. I’m the first passenger there, but the waiting lounge soon fills up. We pre-clear US Immigration in the terminal shortly after 1PM, and we are all aboard about 15 minutes later. I have six window seats all to myself since there are very few passengers on this sailing.

Serving staff and lots of empty seats in the main cabin
Serving staff and lots of empty seats in the main cabin

They announce that tea and coffee are free on this sailing, and beer is on sale for US$3, so I order a Pike Place IPA and a smoked Provolone sandwich as a mid-afternoon snack/dinner. We hit some bigger waves around 3PM for about a half hour or so.

The captain takes us directly across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Dungeness Point near Port Angeles in order to keep our time in rough seas to a minimum. We pass Whidby Island on our left and the Point Wilson lighthouse at Port Worden Historic State Park on our right near Port Townsend. The rain is really streaming down the windows of the boat as we proceed through Puget Sound towards Seattle. I’m seated beside four women from Louisiana, who’s accents are a hoot to listen to.

Route map - Dungeness Bay
Route map – Dungeness Bay

Once we dock at Pier 69, all the passengers with no checked luggage get off first, then the rest of us claim our bags and go through US Immigration and Customs. None of the agents have computer terminals on this end, unlike in Victoria where my passport was scanned. I catch a taxi outside the terminal, and he takes me the 10-15 blocks through rush hour traffic to the Best Western Plus Pioneer Square hotel. I picked this hotel because it is about six short blocks to the King Street Train station where I will show up tomorrow morning to begin my train journey to Tucson, Arizona.

2 thoughts on “Victoria to Seattle

  1. Hi Joe,

    Have a great trip, and i look forward to reading your travel blog… Lynn and i begin our trip today as well, and will post pictures on Facebook.

    Question: The Victoria Clipper seems like a great way to start a trip with an air flight beginning at SeaTac. Have you used this approach before?

    stephen

    • No, I haven’t used this before, mainly because SeaTac Airport is quite a distance south of the city. Since I took the train, it made sense because the two terminals are only about a dozen blocks apart. That said, there is now public transit available to the airport, so you might want to investigate that angle further.

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