Travel to the other Southern Gulf Islands can sometimes be an odd experience.

Twice recently I was the ONLY vehicle in the parking lot. In my effort to return to Salt Spring, I left from Saturna with a smattering of cars. I got off at Mayne Island, drove up past the cars in the terminal, and headed back down in lane 9. Some other cars got off the ferry and disappeared. The walk on passengers and all the cars waiting in the terminal loaded (…which is an entertaining time as some cars are directed to drive on normally, some to turn at the far end of the boat so they are facing back to the terminal, while others are directed to back onto the ferry).

So when those shenanigans were complete, I looked around and was startled to find I was the only car in the terminal. The ferry attendants had disappeared and it was sunny, still and silent. And remained that way for a long time—until I too had a chance to demonstrate my ‘backing up around a corner skills’ into lanes of traffic squeezed onto a ferry.