B.C. Ferries cancels sailings between Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island due to high winds

A wind storm that caused the cancellation of all daytime ferries between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland stranded passengers on both sides of the Salish Sea, adding challenges for travelers in an already hectic holiday travel week.

Environment Canada says strong, potentially damaging winds and high waves were expected late Monday afternoon, with winds expected to rise to a force of 70 to 90 km/h.

Britney Dale, a resident of Nanaimo, B.C., only found out the ferry she hoped to take home from Horseshoe Bay was cancelled after spending an hour in transit to get there.

"I want to go home and it's super inconvenient," said Dale, who hopes to try again Tuesday morning.

"I actually had some work stuff that I needed to get to today, but now that has to be put on hold."

Shiryn Sayani, a spokesperson for B.C. Ferries, said that crews are still assessing whether it will be safe enough for the remaining evening sailings to continue.

"We totally recognize it's such a busy holiday period and everyone has important places to be, so travel disruptions are frustrating," she said.

"We really just appreciate everyone's patience. Our teams are working through the conditions and as soon as they improve and it's safe to do so, that service will be restored."

Passengers looking to reserve a trip through B.C. Ferries' booking website on Monday faced long waits due to a spike in demand. At 1 p.m., the electronic queue was more than 6,000 people long with an average wait time of more than 45 minutes.

Michelle Kirby, an island resident for more than 30 years who currently resides in Victoria was also impacted.

Kirby says her parents, who are from the Kootenays, spent hours on Monday trying to book a Tuesday reservation for themselves and her sister to come to Swartz Bay from Tsawwassen.

However, whenever it was finally their turn to book, her family members would only see an error page on their screen — while the sailings crept closer to full capacity. When they tried calling, none of her family was able to get through to B.C. Ferries' customer service department.

"For them to come all the way across the province and then get stuck in Vancouver would be very sad," Kirby said.

"All of our Christmas plans are a little bit up in the air and I have too much cheese for just our family. We need my parents and my sister to get over here to eat it all."