Not your average cruise boat, the M.V. Frances Barkley is a packet freighter that welcomes sightseers, kayakers, and other adventurers to hop onboard while it makes its rounds—delivering mail and supplies to isolated villages, logging camps,

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Not your average cruise boat, the M.V. Frances Barkley is a packet freighter that welcomes sightseers, kayakers, and other adventurers to hop onboard while it makes its rounds—delivering mail and supplies to isolated villages, logging camps, and floating post offices. From Port Alberni to Bamfield and on summer sailings to Ucluelet, this freighter offers inexpensive daylong excursion through the Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound. Sit in a lawn chair and sip coffee as the boat chugs through channels and inlets, past rocky-spruce- and fir-topped islands while nature whirls on by. Kingfishers chatter over the water's surface. Eagles dive for salmon. A seal bobs its head, then disappears. The odd blue heron flaps off into the wind. And if you're lucky, whales or porpoises steal the show. Bamfield is the northern gateway to the West Coast Trail, and the Frances Barkley includes drop-off and pick-up service to keen backpackers. Service to Ucluelet includes a stop at Sechart Whaling Station, where kayakers disembark for paddling trips in the Broken Group Islands. The company also offers water-taxi service among Toquart Bay, Sechart, the Broken Group Islands, and other points in Barkley Sound.

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