Ferries from Powell River (Westview)

Powell River sits on a stretch of mainland coast with no road to the rest of the mainland. Westview terminal is how vehicles reach it from Vancouver Island — 85 minutes across the Strait of Georgia, 4 sailings.

The crossing

Westview to Comox (Little River) takes about 1 hour 25 minutes, with 4 sailings and 8 across the terminal in both directions. Operated by BC Ferries.

⚠ The land route is three ferries

Reaching Powell River by road from Vancouver means Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, driving the Sunshine Coast to Earls Cove, then a second ferry to Saltery Bay — and Saltery Bay is still a half-hour drive south of here.

This Comox crossing is the fourth way in and, from Vancouver Island, the only one. Four sailings on an 85-minute route means a missed boat costs most of a day.

Parking

Limited pay parking outside the terminal. There is no large managed lot — Comox on the other side has about 115 spaces, which makes leaving the car there the better half of a round trip.

The Sunshine Coast circuit

Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, up the coast through Sechelt to Earls Cove, across to Saltery Bay, north to Powell River, then this ferry to Comox and back down Vancouver Island. Four crossings and one of the better drives in the province.

Done in that order it is a loop rather than an out-and-back, and this is the leg that closes it.

The town

Powell River grew around a pulp mill and has a preserved townsite quarter of early twentieth-century company housing. Desolation Sound, the best-known cruising ground on the coast, begins just north.

Season

Year round. Reservations are worth having on a four-sailing route, particularly with a vehicle in summer.