mdod

Our Alaskan cruise returns to Seattle 8:00 AM Sun, May 25th and our flight home isn't until 12:25 PM, Thu, May 29th. An outdoorsy friend from Calgary that says Tofino is one of her favorite places in the world. I have another friend that lives in Tsawwassen, BC just across the border and 5 min from the ferry to Nanaimo and we want to stop and see her too.

I was looking into jumping ship in Victoria the last night of our cruise but one way car rentals are $$$$ and I'd have to get to Vancouver to get one anyway.
I have a rental car reserved for pick-up at the pier and drop-off at SEATAC.

I know it's a long haul but we're used to traveling sun-up to sundown. It looks like we can take a ferry from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo. Any idea how long the drive
is from Nanaimo to Tofino? My friend said 5 hours but Google Maps says 3 hours. I was thinking we could drive up to Tsawwassen, visit with my friend for a few hours and then head to Tofino. We'd have all day Mon and Tues in Tofino and then work our way back to Seattle on Wed.

For the return trip, would it be better to go back through Tsawwassen or to drive down to Victoria and take the ferry to Port Angeles?

Will we have to worry about getting stuck in traffic on either route? Is the border crossing to Port Angeles slower/faster than the one on the highway?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Orcas

When you get back from your cruise, you will be on the ship for some time. It will be important to tell them you have an early flight out of Seattle on Sunday or you won't be disembarking until noon.

So, say you get off by 10:30 AM. You will have to go to Seatac (add 30 minutes to Seatac and out with car) to get the car. You'll leave Seattle by about noon, I'd bet.

It will take about 2 1/2 hours, not counting border crossing to Tswassen. The Canadians shop in the US on the wkends and return on Sunday evening. If you're there by 2:00 it should not be too long - maybe 30 minutes. So, say 3 hours to Tsawwassen including border crossing, so you arrive at 2:30 PM. You will either need ferry reservations or to get there at least an hour early. There are probably a lot of cars crossing over on Sunday night, so I'd suggest you make reservations well in advance.

Right now, looking at the schedule, there is a 3:15 and a 5:45 ferry. (I am looking at April - don't know if May is the same) I don't think you could count on getting there for the 3:15 ferry, in case anything goes wrong. I believe you have to be there 30 minutes early if you have a reservation (check on this).

If you take the 5:45 ferry, you could see your friend first, maybe at the ferry terminal. (You could decide whether to go to your friend's place or meet at the terminal based on your timing, especially if you have reservations for the 5:45 PM ferry) The ferry terminal is really nice.

It takes two hours to cross, so you will get across by 7:45 PM and it is a 3 hour drive. You'd get to Tofino around 11 PM. It will probably be light to 9:30 PM or so.

You'd have Monday and Tuesday in Tofino. Wednesday, you need to plan on crossing early in case anything happens with the ferries. Count on a 10 hour drive time. 3 hours to Duke Point, 1 hour ferry wait (if you have reservations), 2 hours across, and 3 to Seattle with border crossing. I don't think the border crossing will be too bad on a Wednesday evening. I would do it that way and not go down to Victoria and over. That involves an extra ferry at Winslow, unless you are going to drive your way around in Seattle traffic. (That might not be a bad option if you are going to stay at Seatac on Wed night.)

Jamming in Tofino will be touch. Can you just visit Vancouver? Or the Olympic Peninsula? Maybe your friend could meet you on San Juan Island. Your life would be easier. Tofino is nice, but it's a lot of driving for two days.

So, that's my guess on time. Ask your friend in Tsawwassen what he or she thinks.

djcntrav

I love Tofino as well. Long Beach is gorgious year round. My favourite thing is to get up very early and walk on the beach. If you are lucky the fog will be in, as it is most mornings and you won't be able to see your feet! That is cool.

One way to save yourself from the border and ferry lineup (both can be very bad) is to prebook passage on the COHO ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. We took it very early in the morning so you might want to spend the night in Victoria, which is also very lovely.

The drive from Port Angeles to Seattle is lovely as well but long.

Have a great trip.

mdod

Thanks for the information Orcas and djcn. My friend in Tsawwassen said to go to Tofino too. When we travel we go hard all day long, so I'm not too worried about the distance.

FWIW, Thrifty lets us pick up a car at the pier and drop off at SEATAC so we won't have to backtrack to the airport to get the car. I've never been on a cruise before so I ahve no idea how long it takes to disembark. We're on Norwegian Cruiselines and most of the reviews I've read say it went fast. We will only have a carry-on if that makes any difference.

It looks like we're stuck with whatever ferry reservation we make. I was hoping we could check the weather and maybe take a later ferry on Wed so we'd have some time in Victoria if it looked good. If we took an early ferry to Port Angeles, any suggestions for thing to see after arriving in Port Angeles. I'd hate to take the early ferry and then waste the rest of the day. Could we wait and make reservations just a day or two in advance or is that too risky?

Also, I just noticed a ferry from Victoria to Seattle on a map. Is there a car ferry that goes to Seattle.

NWWanderer

Port Angeles is the gateway to Olympic National Park, so yes there are a few things to do in the area ;-), Hurricane Ridge and Lake Crescent, to name a just a couple of places close to PA.

I'd make reservations for the 10:30 AM ferry from Victoria once you know your plans unless you are ok with taking a chance as to which ferry you take.

No, there's no car ferry from Victoria to Seattle--just the Victoria Clipper which is passenger only.

Where are you going to stay in Tofino? It's a wonderful place.

mdod

Thanks NWW. I thought the Clipper was the only ferry from Seattle but figured I'd ask. So if I want the 10:30 ferry from Victoria, any suggestions as to how early we'd need to leave Tofino?

Finding a place in Tofino is my next assignment. Any suggestions for places that would still be available this late? We really just bath and sleep in our room. When we're at a B&B wer'e seldom hang around long enough for breakfast so a clean bed is our main requirement.

NWWanderer

Oh, for some reason I was assuming you were going to stay over in Victoria the night before after driving there from Tofino, sorry, my mistake. You wouldn't be able to make the 10:30 ferry unless you left Tofino by 4 AM so never mind on that ;-)! So you should plan on the 3 PM or 7:30 PM ferry. It's about a 5 hour drive from Tofino, and you need to clear customs before sailing so generally you need to be at the Coho lot 60-90 minutes before the sailing, even with a reservation. So you'd be looking at leaving Tofino by 7-8 AM if you want to have an hour or two to poke around Victoria and then take the 3 PM ferry.

NWWanderer

As far as places to stay in Tofino--I'd suggest trying to get one of the simple ocean-facing rooms in the original beach lodge at Middle Beach.

mdod

Thanks NNW. If it's 5 hours just to Victoria, it sounds like it might be best to go back to Tsawwassen as Orca suggested. I just checked the ferry schedules and there are 8 ferries to Tsawwassen vs only 3 to Port Angeles (and another ferry later). We have a friend in Everett (LOL...it sounds like I have friends everywhere!) so that would also let us spend Wed night at her place and then have a leisurely drive to the airport Thu morning.

How reliable are the ferries? Should I be worried about getting stranded on the island?

NWWanderer

Yes, in terms of frequency the BC Ferries are definitely the better bet. The biggest unknown doing that route will be how long it will take you to cross the border back into the US.

The ferries are reasonably reliable--and you have several other route options if a ferry goes out of service on that particular route. I personally don't like to count on a ferry the same day I am flying but the day before I'd be ok with it.

Orcas

I agree with NWWanderer. When we went to Tofino, one of the ferries from Duke Pt (the one we had reservations on) was out of service. We tried going from the other terminal to Horseshoe Bay, but that was a total mess. When your ferries out of service, you have no reservations anymore and no special status. People with reservations were getting on that ferry before us and the lines were through a residential area - no guarantees. So we went back to Duke Pt and waited several hours for the next ferry. We did get across the same day, but it took us 12 hours to get to Seattle from Tofino that day. SO, plan on an earlier ferry the day you leave, just in case. And make sure you are traveling by ferry the day before your flight. Then you won't have to sweat it.

It isn't so bad to sit around waiting, if that's how it works out, so long as you aren't in a hurry. Just plan so you don't stress out so you can enjoy whatever adventure comes your way.

mdod

Well our flight is at 12:25 PM on Thu so if we don't make one of the ferries on Wed, there aren't any early enough on Thu to make it back to Seattle anyway. Depending on ferries is not very conducive to my whirlwind vacation philosphy!

Orcas

You'll make it on Wednesday. Just allow time.

traveler24

If you stay over in Everett, be sure to check with friends about traffic to SeaTac...AND best route..
Our last visitt there took 2 1/2 hrs on I-5
405 worked better for us...
Good luck

Orcas

The flight home is at 12:25 PM, so you should be okay with traffic on I-5 from Everett to the airport. It would be a different story if you had to drive the morning rush hour.

In any case, under normal circumstances I don't believe I-405 is faster than I-5. I-405 is one of the most congested hwys in the Seattle metro area. It starts to get bad in Kirkland and is often stop and start through Bellevue - horribly congested. Further south, I-405 around the Valley Freeways is also extremely congested. In other words, I-405 is not generally a good alternative to I-5. Too bad about that, but that might make you feel better, traveler 24 (though it sounds like you hit something particularly bad on I-5 that day).

Orcas

traveler24, Well, once I posted, I reread yours. So you did go on 405 and it was better. I think it was a fluke and not to be counted on. You can check the traffic on line at the WSDOT website and figure out your best route through the city. mdod, your friends probably know how to find the website and live by it if they drive into Seattle.