Residents of Bowen Island will be without ferry service for at least one more day.
BC Ferries confirmed Wednesday that sailings between the island and Horseshoe Bay would be cancelled on Thursday, following service outages on Tuesday and Wednesday.
BC Ferries says it had to cancel sailings because severe weather on Monday night caused the dock at Snug Cove to shift out of position, leaving the boarding ramp unsafe to use.
“We have repairs underway at the moment, but in the meantime, we really want to keep service going for the community of Bowen Island, so we have water taxis in place,” BC Ferries spokesperson Shiryn Sayani said.
“We have five vessels running during peak times on that route.”
The company has deployed crews to fix the dock, who are working as fast as they can, Sayani said.
Water taxi passengers Global News spoke with were taking the outage in stride.
“It’s part of island life, to be honest,” said Carolyn Peters, who has lived on Bowen for nearly three decades.
“That’s what you have to understand when you move to the island.”‘
Heidi Mather said the ferry outage will affect her plans on the mainland by leaving her without a vehicle, but that there wasn’t much she could do about it.
“I’m not upset with BC Ferries if it was a windstorm, you know, it’s out of their hands,” she said.
“And the crew seem to be doing a great job working there at the moment. It’s dreadful conditions for them to be working in, so I appreciate that.”
Sayani said BC Ferries is running one 38-passenger and four 12-passenger water taxis during peak periods, and a pair of 12-passenger boats during off-peak hours.
The company is also offering a free Horseshoe Bay parking pass for passengers destined for Bowen Island.