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Berry Island Lodge

Getting there · Berry Island Lodge

Getting to Berry Island Lodge

Berry Island Lodge is reached by the lodge's own water taxi from Alder Bay, a marina near Port McNeill at the top of Vancouver Island, and the boat leaves once a day at midday. That single departure sets the whole itinerary: you are on the island the day before, one way or another. This is the journey in order, from the mainland to the dock on the point and back.

I photographed the lodge in late summer, when the sign on the dock still said Farewell Harbour. Times, distances, the shuttle and the flight advice are the lodge's own, from its published pages, and they change; confirm them with your booking.

Start here

Where the boat leaves

Every stay starts and finishes at Alder Bay RV Park and Marina, near Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island. The lodge's water taxi to Berry Island departs between 12:00 and 12:30 pm.

The lodge asks you to be at Alder Bay by 11:30 am, to allow time for parking and luggage. Parking there is complimentary for the length of your stay.

Each guest completes a liability waiver before arriving at Alder Bay, with a separate informed consent form for anyone under 19.

  1. Arrive on Vancouver Island the day before

    The lodge is explicit that a midday boat cannot be met from the mainland the same morning.

    • By air: Pacific Coastal Airlines flies from Vancouver International's South Terminal (YVR South) to Port Hardy. The lodge asks guests to fly in the day before to avoid flight delays and missed connections, and will book the Pacific Coastal flights for you for an extra fee.
    • By road from Vancouver: the Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo ferry is a 1 hour 40 minute crossing, then it is 345 km from Nanaimo to Alder Bay, about four hours of driving, the lodge says. BC Ferries reservations are strongly recommended.
    • Either way you sleep on Vancouver Island the night before: in Port Hardy if you fly, or wherever the drive north lands you.

  2. The shuttle from Port Hardy

    Included on arrival morning. About 40 minutes.

    • If you flew in, the lodge's ground transport between Port Hardy airport and its water taxi base at Alder Bay is complimentary on the morning you are due at the lodge. The transfer takes approximately 40 minutes.
    • The lodge's page names the airport as the pick-up point. If you have overnighted in Port Hardy, confirm with the lodge where and when the shuttle collects you.

  3. Alder Bay RV Park and Marina

    Arrive by 11:30 am.

    • Arrive by 11:30 am for the 12:00 to 12:30 pm departure. The lodge builds that half hour in for parking and dealing with luggage.
    • Parking is complimentary for the whole stay, so the car is your left-luggage: the lodge is off grid and the second bag does not need to make the crossing.
    • There is no guest laundry on the island. Alder Bay has a public laundromat, and the lodge suggests it for before or after your stay.

  4. The water taxi

    About 30 minutes through Johnstone Strait and Blackfish Sound.

    • The lodge's water taxi leaves Alder Bay between 12:00 and 12:30 pm and takes about 30 minutes, through Johnstone Strait and into Blackfish Sound, to the dock at Farewell Harbour.
    • These are the waters the lodge's marine tours work, so the crossing is your first look at them. Keep a camera where you can reach it.

  5. Arriving at the point

    • Staff meet the boat at the dock. Then a light lunch, a welcome orientation, time to settle into your room, and an afternoon marine tour that is back by 4:30 pm, in time for the 5 pm swim club.
    • Meals are included from that lunch through to lunch on departure day.
    • Rooms are not allocated in advance because arrivals are daily in 2026. Every room has an ocean view, an ensuite with a shower, a gas fireplace and two beds; eight are along the boardwalk on the rock and four are on the floating lodge below.
    • Getting around means ramps, docks and stepping in and out of boats. The lodge says it is not wheelchair or walker accessible.

    First hand The first thing you see from the water is the deck: cedar and blue roofs on a spine of rock at the edge of the island, with the archipelago opening on three sides and the floating lodge tied in below.

  6. Coming back

    Alder Bay around noon. Flights after 2 pm.

    • On the last morning there is time for a final excursion after breakfast, then the water taxi returns you to Alder Bay around noon.
    • If you are flying out of Port Hardy, the lodge's shuttle takes you from Alder Bay to the airport. Book a flight after 2:00 pm; the lodge says that is what its departure logistics can meet.
    • Evening onward flights from Vancouver are possible, but the lodge recommends staying overnight in Vancouver and not booking any same-day international connections, in case of delays.

Sleep first

The night before

The lodge does not name hotels; it only says to be on Vancouver Island the day before. These are the two towns to look in, not recommendations, and I have no hotel to vouch for.

  • Port Hardy · The airport town, and where the lodge's shuttle starts. About 40 minutes from Alder Bay by that shuttle.
  • Port McNeill · The town Alder Bay is near, if you are driving.

Checked against: Berry Island Lodge, getting there , Berry Island Lodge, sample itinerary , Berry Island Lodge, FAQs . Times, fares and addresses are the operator's and change; confirm with your booking.