Qualla: Swartz Bay ferry terminal

Swartz Bay ferry terminal: Introduction

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Achim Hering, CC BY 3.0. In December 1981 a cutting torch set the terminal alight. The fire took out part of the passenger walkway and a wingwall and did half a million dollars in damage before terminal staff and firefighters got the better of it - with help from an unexpected direction. The Queen of Nanaimo was inbound on her scheduled run, and rather than stand off and wait, she came in and turned her own fire hoses on the dock she was about to tie up to. There is something about that image that captures Swartz Bay exactly. This is not a scenic overlook or a heritage site. It is a working machine at the north end of the Saanich Peninsula, and when something goes wrong the next sailing is still due.

Image: Achim Hering | CC BY 3.0

Swartz Bay ferry terminal: Seventy Years of Waiting

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit This image was taken by me and is released for public use., Public domain. The idea was old before it was built. In 1889 Amor De Cosmos, by then a former premier of British Columbia, became the first person known to have publicly proposed Swartz Bay as a workable ferry terminal for connections to the Lower Mainland. Nobody acted on it for seven decades....

Image: This image was taken by me and is released for public use. | Public domain

Swartz Bay ferry terminal: Five Berths and a Floating Ramp

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0. Today the terminal occupies 22.7 hectares and works five berths. The heavy engineering is mostly invisible to anyone in the queue, but it matters: in 2006 the Berth 2 project replaced ageing marine structures and an old counter-weighted ramp lift with a $25 million floating berth...

Image: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Swartz Bay ferry terminal: The End of Highway 17

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Achim Hering, CC BY 3.0. Swartz Bay is where the highway stops, which gives the place its particular character: everyone arriving is on their way to somewhere across water. Victoria International Airport is about ten minutes down Highway 17, and transit Route 70 runs an express bus into downtown Victoria...

Image: Achim Hering | CC BY 3.0

Swartz Bay ferry terminal: A Working Seaway

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Achim Hering, CC BY 3.0. It is easy to treat the crossing as scenery - and it is spectacular scenery, threading out past the Gulf Islands with the Coast Mountains ahead. But these are busy, constrained waters shared by vessels of wildly different sizes, and the terminal's history includes the reminder. O...

Image: Achim Hering | CC BY 3.0