Another day, another ferry, this time to Haida Gwaii

Today’s ferry wasn’t as early, or nearly as long as the last one, but it wasn’t such nice scenery either. The journey was fine, but there wasn’t much to look at most of the way, which I suppose was good in a way, as it gave us both a chance to catch up with some of our tasks, including getting a few more blog posts written. And this time, we did a better job of sticking to our meal plan too.

We arrived in Skidegate, collected our bags, and went to queue for a taxi, only to be met by a rather grumpy man, who told us that we should have booked a taxi, that he was waiting for someone who had booked, and various other unhelpful comments. We were trying to establish whether we could book a cab now, or put our name on a list or something, but he really wasn’t listening, so we were getting nowhere. Then just as we were considering going off to try to hitch our way to Queen Charlotte – hitching is apparently a vey common mode of transport here – he suddenly said, “OK, get in”. I have no idea what changed, but we didn’t argue, and hopped in.

I wish I could say that this was the end of his grumpiness, but no, it continued for the entirety of the journey. It wasn’t directed so much at us, but he grumbled his way about various other people. He also reckoned that the address we were going to didn’t exist. Now, Queen Charlotte isn’t a big place. We only stayed there six days, and by the end of that we were giving other new arrivals directions, so given that he reckons he’s been driving a cab here for 25 years, I just don’t believe that he didn’t know where it was.

But we went on a little mystery tour nonetheless, before suddenly and miraculously, he worked out where to find it. It wasn’t even a ploy to get more money, as he charged us the standard fare, so I can only assume that he just likes being cantankerous. We spoke to a local about him later, and they knew exactly who we were talking about and confirmed that this was his usual jolly self.

Anyhow, we arrived at our Airbnb, and were made very welcome by our host and her longer-term guest. We got ourselves settled in, and then tottered our way down the short but rather steep hill down towards the visitors’ centre, and to take a look around, before heading back to the house to make ourselves our dinner.

On the subject of food, if you do come here and plan to self cater, then if you have the opportunity, bring a few groceries with you. We had a bit of trouble getting to the supermarket around our day tours, and when you do get there, they don't have a great deal of choice and prices are fairly high. Thankfully, we had bought the first day's dinner with us. Of course, if you are happy to eat out, there are a few decent places around, which I will mention as we get to them later on.