Last Tuesday I got to do something I’ve been wanting to do for years — travel down the Alberni Inlet to Bamfield aboard the MV Frances Barkley, a working packet freighter that sails the waters of the Inlet to connect the scattered settlements along its shores to the city of Port Alberni. As it happened, there was a sale on this month, so how could I pass that up?

The MV Frances Barkley is the successor to MV Lady Rose, which began the run over 70 years ago, and is run by Lady Rose Marine Services. Their webpage tells about the two boats.  There’s a lot of interesting history around this area, and between the two vessels, they’ve seen it all. I’m interested in the stories for a series of comics I’d like to do about the west coast of the island, and considered this as a sort of scouting run. Later, I’d like to stay a while here and there and talk to people, and do some archival research.

I took about a zillion pictures, and managed to winnow out a few dozen that I liked best (how to choose, how to choose?!?) and put them up on my Facebook art page in an album. Head on over there if you’d like to see more, along with my running commentary!