Inside Passage

 

natural, protected waterway, c.950 mi (1,530 km) long, threading through the Alexander Archipelago off the coast of British Columbia and SE Alaska. From Seattle, Wash., to Skagway, Alaska, or via Cross Sound to the Gulf of Alaska, the route uses channels and straits between islands and the mainland that afford protection from the storms and open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Snowcapped mountains, forests, waterfalls, glaciers, and deep, narrow channels give the Inside Passage great scenic beauty. It was known to Spanish, Russian, English, and American explorers. It is an important coastal route for Canadian shipping as well as the route generally used by ships sailing between the continental United States and Alaska.

The Inside Passage of the Alaska Panhandle and coastal British Columbia is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a series of passages between the mainland and the coastal islands. Ships using the route can avoid some of the bad weather in the open ocean, and visit the many isolated communities along the route. It is heavily travelled by cruise ships, freighters, tugs with tows, fishing craft and ships of the Alaska Marine Highway and BC Ferries systems. The name Inside Passage is also used to refer to the ocean and islands around the passage.

The Alaskan portion of the Inside Passage, in the north, extends 500 miles from north to south and 100 miles from east to west. The area encompasses 1,000 islands, 15,000 miles of shoreline and thousands of coves and bays. British Columbia's southern portion of the route is of similar extent, with up to 25,000 miles of coastline, and includes the narrow, protected Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland, the Johnstone and Queen Charlotte Straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland, as well as the wider and more exposed Hecate Strait near the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The Inside Passage is a destination for kayakers and canoeists from all over the world. Each year groups and individuals paddle along the fjords from British Columbia to Glacier Bay in Alaska. The first solo kayak passage was in 1969 by Peter Claghorn.

Gallery

See also

• British Columbia Coast
• Alaska Panhandle
• BC Ferries
• Alaska Marine Highway

External links

• [1] - Official information on Alaska's Inside Passage

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