The Official Kilt Kamp 2014 Registration thread

[KiltedKnome]

As someone who travels from the Lower Mainland (Squamish, Vancouver, etc.) to Victoria monthly, this is the ferry situation.

Visit http://www.bcferries.com/ and click on the schedules for Metro Vancouver-Vancouver Island- Sunshine Coast.

There are two possible routes:

You can catch a ferry at Tsawwassen over to Schwartz Bay, which is then a 30 - 40 minute drive to Victoria along the Pat Bay Highway. Please remember the road signs are in kilometers per hour and not miles per hour on the highway, or you will be pulled over to the side of the road by one of our "friendly" peace keepers. This ferry takes you through the smaller islands, and sometimes you can see orcas, etc.

You can catch a ferry at Horseshoe Bay over to Nanaimo, which is upisland (cool local word, sort of like "outwith" in Scotland). You will then drive 1-1/2 hours (some people do it in 1 hour) down the island to Victoria, going over our mountain range called the Malahat. You are on open water a bit more on this ferry.

YOU ARE COMING TO TOWN AT THE START OF A LONG WEEKEND. THE FERRIES AND ROADS LEADING TO THE FERRIES WILL BE BUSY. If you are pretty sure when you will be wanting to catch the ferry, you can make a reservation (see that website above). Otherwise, plan on the possibility of a sailing wait. In summer, I always make a reservation (and fork over the extra money) if I want to catch the Horseshoe Bay ferry, since it is several hours to the next ferry -- makes a rough sailing wait. There are more ferries sailing from Tsawwassen to Schwarz Bay, so a sailing wait is not as onerous. Please note, if you are on the bus that travels between Vancouver and Victoria, you will not be affected by any ferry waits (due to more customers than room), since the buses are guaranteed.

If anyone is catching the bus over from the Vancouver Airport, either Steve or I can meet them at the Victoria bus terminal. That bus takes the Tsawwassen-to-Schwarz Bay ferry. We are also available to meet flights at the Victoria airport. We have at least one group coming over on the Coho Ferry (Washington State Ferry out of Port Angeles) into the Inner Harbour of Victoria.

Folks driving to Kilt Kamp and intending to take a BC ferry....

I checked the ferry situation this morning (www.bcferries.com), and the Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo ferry has no reservations available anymore on the Friday before Kilt Kamp, but there are still some reservation spots available on the Saturday (August 2). This does not mean you cannot still drive on the ferry, you just may not make the sailing you want and would be shifted to a later sailing. If you plan on taking that ferry, I strongly recommend you either (a) make a reservation on one of the available sailings, or (b) plan on arriving at the ferry terminal several sailings ahead of time so that, if there is a sailing wait, you still have a chance of making a sailing over to the Island. Trust me....there is nothing worse than realizing you have missed the last sailing of the day!

There are still reservation slots available on the Tsawwassen to Schwartz Bay ferry on both August 1st and August 2nd. [Tsawwassen (for those who are curious) is pronounced /təˈwɑːsən/.] This ferry goes every hour so, even if you don't have a reservation you should only have to wait at most 2 hours. Once again, though, if you are not making a reservation, please try to get to the terminal several sailings ahead of the last sailing of the day, for the same reason as noted above.

If anyone plans on walking on a ferry, or catching a bus that drives on a ferry, you would not be affected by sailing waits unless the latter is for something like a (a) marine emergency, (b) operational issue (equipment breakdown or shortage of ferry crew so sailing delayed until full complement obtained), (c) etc.

The joys of living on a island!