WestJet
WestJet is considering our proposal for sponsorship. If they say yes to sponsor, we’ll get some free tickets, or subsidies, and we’ll work out the details ASAP. In the meantime, they’ve already set up our conference account.
*NB: If you can, I recommend you wait until we hear back about sponsorship, since tickets booked with the Conference Code are non-refundable.*
To book with WestJet, you can use the conference code CC6483 to book by phone, at 1-877-493-7853, to get 10% off the best rate available at the time of booking. That means you can still save much more by booking well in advance.
To be eligible for the discount:
- Delegates can up to 3 days before and after the conference dates we’ve registered with them (June 6-12).
- tickets are non-refundable, and can only be cancelled for WestJet credit.
More info…
For those of you who may be arriving to the Nanaimo portion of your adventure latter in the night and may be missing the last ferry over to Gab please email
programdirector@chly.ca and we’ll see if CHLY can hook you up in any way. Also we may be able to assist with travel issues from the two Nanaimo ferry terminals or Nanaimo airport. If you are still on the fence on coming out the West Coast then here’s the kick you need. DO IT!!! This place is amazing!!
Dylan Perry
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Getting to Gabriola (in fact we are a major tourist destination) can be quite easy. The suggestion included below is the easiest and possibly the least expensive means for your arrival. Other resources are included below for your consideration. Ken’s favs are at the end of this page.
1) Land at YVR Vancouver Airport,
2) Catch a Skytrain (Vancouver’s rapid transit) to downtown (Granville stop),
3) Catch a city bus #250 to Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. Option #1 — Walk a few blocks towards The Hudson’s Bay and catch a #257 Express to Horseshoe Bay if you like.
4) Land in Nanaimo, catch a city bus #2 to City Centre, stay on it until it goes to the Gabriola Ferry terminal.
5) Catch a Gabriola ferry (MV Quinsom) to Gabriola Island, Gerry picks you up, if you let us know you want a ride. Last Ferry leaves at 10:55pm.
… or save a lot of hastle, a take the train or Greyhound to Vancouver, both stop at the Main Street Station, catch a Greyhound to Nanaimo, walk to the Ferry terminal for Gabriola.
Hot chocolate or beer awaits you upon your arrival….
Ferry from Vancouver
BC Ferries run services to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island from Tsawwassen (2 hours) and Horseshoe Bay (1 hour 35 minutes).
There are Greyhound bus services from Victoria and from downtown Vancouver to Nanaimo (via BC Ferries). There is also a Pacific Coach service from Vancouver Airport to Nanaimo
Once in Nanaimo, drive or take a taxi or the Nanaimo Shuttle to the Gabriola ferry, which runs approximately once an hour, 7 days a week, from 6 am to 11 pm. Sailing time to Gabriola is 20 minutes. Contact BC Ferries for more information.
On arrival on Gabriola Island, follow the traffic up the hill, take the first left onto Taylor Bay Rd, then drive approximately 4 km . We are at 835 Berry Point Road. There are sign posts before both turns. You can phone us in advance to arrange a shuttle service to Camp Miriam from the Gabriola side ferry terminal. The Gabriola Taxi Service is also available.
Float plane from Vancouver
Tofino Air has flights from Vancouver Airport south terminal to Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. From Silva Bay you can take the CKGI shuttle (Gerry) to Camp Miriam. Tofino Air in Vancouver can arrange the taxi for you.
Harbour Air and West Coast Air offer scheduled flights from downtown Vancouver to Nanaimo, landing a five-minute walk from the Gabriola ferry terminal.
Air connection via Vancouver
Air Canada offers connector flights from Vancouver International Airport to Cassidy Airport, about 20 km south of Nanaimo. From Cassidy Airport a taxi or the Nanaimo Shuttle can take you to the Gabriola Ferry terminal in downtown Nanaimo.
Useful contacts
| Via Rail | 1 888 842 7245 | www.viarail.ca |
| BC Ferries | 1 888 223 3779 | www.bcferries.com |
| Tofino Air | 1 800 665 2359 | www.tofinoair.ca |
| Harbour Air | 1 800 665 0212 | www.harbour-air.com |
| West Coast Air | 1 800 347 2222 | www.westcoastair.com |
| Greyhound Bus | 1 800 661 8747 | www.greyhound.ca |
| Pacific Coach | 1 800 661 1725 | www.pacificcoach.com |
| Air Canada | 1 888 247 2262 | www.aircanada.com |
| Nanaimo Shuttle | 1 888 758 2133 | www.nanaimoairporter.com |
| Vancouver Airport to/from | yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr.aspx | |
| Gabriola Taxi | 1 250 247 0049 |
Translink offers a trip planner for public transit in Vancouver.
Nanaimo Bus routes are on BCTransit.
A local Realtor maintains a list of resources.
Nanaimo Tourism keep a set of travel resources.
A comprehensive list of resources from Island Transport Solutions.
Google Maps public transit directions doesn’t work using BC Ferries, but does work at the Vancouver and Nanaimo sides.
Ken’s Fav routes home from Vancouver
Option 1
Land at YVR take the SkyTrain to the Granville Station, transfer take the Skytrain to Main Street Station, catch a Greyhound to Nanaimo, walk to Gabriola Ferry terminal (or cab if you have a lot of gear). This is only a few bucks extra but saves moving a lot of gear.
Option 2
If you have a few bucks extra this is a really nice trip. Land at YVR, catch a cab (I paid $20 two years ago) to the South Airport terminal, catch a Tofino Air float plane to Gabriola Silva Bay ($67, but saves the ferry and buses cost). Check your baggage weight (flight includes 25lbs per passenger; excess charge applied @ $0.50c/lb +gst)
Option 3
The fastest, if you can get a good flight connection to Cassidy Airport Nanaimo. Land at Cassidy Airport and catch a Shuttle to the Gabriola Ferry terminal. If your flight lands in time you can catch a GreyHound bus to Nanaimo, ask to get off at the Gabriola Ferry. The bud driver will need you to carry your luggage on the bus not underneath. They cannot open their cargo hold at this stop.
Option 4
Come early and spend time in the big cement, Vancouver downtown. Land at YVR, catch a SkyTrain to downtown Waterfront Station, catch a seaplane, Harbour Air and West Coast Air offer scheduled flights from downtown Vancouver to Nanaimo, landing a five-minute walk from the Gabriola ferry terminal.
Option 5
Come early land at YVR, catch a SkyTrain to downtown Waterfront station, catch a seaplane to Victoria Harbour, hang out, grab a Salmon Tacones at Red Fish Blue Fish, catch a Greyhound to Nanaimo.
CKGI -Shuttle Service on Gabriola
No public transport exists on Gabriola that uses oil. There are coloured bikes laying around for shared use. Look in ditches for these bikes.
CKGI will operate a Oil Fueled shuttle for NCRC delegates and their gear. Gerry is your transport captain, he drinks coffee and drives a van. Our goal is to transport you to and from the conference and the Ferry terminal safely on time and with as low an impact as possible.
Performers transport
#1 by Ken on April 18, 2010 - 6:13 pm
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Just a few points of clarification. Not to usurp Ken’s role as organizer, but I’m sure this seems very complicated for people who haven’t been to the BC coast before, and I figured some travellers might appreciate more detail…
Once you arrive at the Vancouver airport (YVR), you will have to get to Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. Ken sent out some suggestions for how to get there a couple of weeks ago. There are 2 main options for getting there, described below. Either way, you would have to be at Horseshoe Bay by 7pm (or possibly 8pm – there is an extra sailing on June 6 only) in order to catch the last ferry to Gabriola that same day.
In terms of travel times and costs, it will take about 1.5 hours to get from YVR to Horseshoe Bay. The ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo takes 1.5 hours, sails every 2 hours, and costs $14. The ferry from Nanaimo to Gabriola leaves every hour, takes 20 minutes, and costs $9. Give yourself about 5 hours (including all buses and ferries) to get from YVR to Gabriola.
Transit options:
1) Take public transit to Horseshoe Bay – this means the skytrain from YVR plus one bus to Horseshoe Bay (total trip time is about 1.5 hours). Then take the ferry to Nanaimo. Then take one more bus to the Gabriola ferry terminal. Then take the ferry to Gabriola. This is the cheapest option.
2) Take a Greyhound bus. Take the skytrain from YVR to the bus station, then take a Greyhound bus (which will include your ferry ticket and deliver you to the bus station in Nanaimo). Take another bus to the Gabriola ferry terminal. This option is the easiest and costs only a few dollars more than public transit ($19, which includes a $14 ferry ticket). The last Greyhound bus of the day leaves the Vancouver bus terminal at 5:45pm. If you arrive at the Vancouver airport any later than 4pm, you will not be able to catch the last Greyhound bus but you may still make it to Gabriola on June 6 if you take public transit instead since there is an 8pm ferry available that day.
I’m sure Ken can provide bus numbers, route maps, exact bus & ferry prices, etc. closer to travel time.
Freya
#2 by Ken on April 18, 2010 - 8:46 pm
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To get from the Victoria airport YYJ to downtown Victoria by cab is more than $50 one way. You can take an airport shuttle to downtown for $20. The trip is about 25km and takes about an hour on the bus, less by cab.
The train to/from Nanaimo only runs once per day. From downtown Victoria to Nanaimo, the train leaves at 10am, arrives around 12:30. On the way back, it leaves Nanaimo at 5:25pm, arrives in Victoria at 8pm. Cost is $42 return.
Greyhound from downtown Victoria to Nanaimo takes between 2h and 2h15min (assuming traffic and highway conditions are good). Cost depends on how far in advance you purchase (anywhere from $30 to $52 return). There are 5 buses in each direction per day.
Either way, you’d have to take a bus or cab in Nanaimo from the bus/train station to the Gabriola ferry terminal, which is the same as if you travel through Vancouver.
In all, it’s much cheaper to go through Vancouver since you can get public transit for the whole way and the Greyhound from Vancouver to Nanaimo is much cheaper too.
#3 by Ken on April 21, 2010 - 11:52 am
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Do you have a ferry schedule for me for each of the boats?
A Gabriola Ferry Schedule will be included in the conference guide.
To review – when coming to the conference from Vancouver you have two ferry options to get to Nanaimo, they are HorseShoe Bay to Nanaimo’s Departure Bay & Tsawwassen to Nanaimo’s Duke Point. I prefer HorseShoe Bay as Duke Point does not have bus service but does have a shuttle.
When in Nanaimo you go to the Gabriola ferry terminal downtown and catch a 20 minute ride to Gabriola where we can shuttle you if you request it.
We are not expecting any problems with the ferries and service bulletins are issued by BC Ferries indicating changes, so its best to review the website to be correct on the Vancouver Island runs . The Victoria runs go to 30 miles north of Victoria which is about a 2 hour drive south of Nanaimo and Gabriola . http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/index.html
The Gabriola ferry cam has a Schedule for Gabriola http://www.ferrycam.clayrose.com/ and you can see the MV Quinsom when she comes back from major refit very soon. Right now Gabriola is serviced by the MV Bowen Queen. I’m in the line up every Tuesday at 9:20 am, if you see me I have the red mini Van.
BC Ferries doesn’t really have a schedule, its more of a guideline of when the boats generally come and go, sometimes they have to provide search and rescue or pods of whales slow them down. Ambulance runs on the Gabriola sailing can really delay matters as well.
good question
#4 by Cheryl Linkletter on April 27, 2010 - 11:03 am
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I am planning on attending the entire conference and will be leaving the Kootenays with the intent of arriving on Gabriola Island in the evening of June 6th and returning to the Kootenays in the evening of June 13th.
I will be taking my own car and am willing and happy to fill my car with other passengers along the way. I have three seats available in a Toyota Yaris. If you are interested in sharing the travel costs (fuel, ferry etc.) to get to the conference, please drop me a line, cheryl@salmofm.info.
#5 by Catherine Fisher on May 21, 2010 - 12:26 pm
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The NCRA Board will have a small amount of funding to distribute to delegates wishing to attend the National Conference, to be held on Gabriola Island June 7-11, 2010.
The funding will be available to a small number of First Nations, M?tis, and Inuit delegates, people of colour, and women, who wish to participate in the conference.
Successful applications will receive a subsidy to cover a portion of the conference fees. Due to the limited number of donations received, we will likely be unable to offer subsidies to all who apply.
Please submit one-paragraph noting your interests and intent to
undervolcano (at) yahoo.com by Sunday May 24th at Midnight EST (include Application for NCRC Subsidy in the subject line).
Notifications will be made by May 27th.
#6 by Ifny on June 3, 2010 - 6:35 pm
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Hi all,
I’ll be doing the bicycle + ferry combo, starting in Vancouver. Any tips for cyclists?