Guests at one of British Columbia’s most luxurious resorts had to be saved by a ferry when their floating eco-lodge came unmoored during high winds.
(Image Courtesy of VPI)
The end of the 2011 season came with a dramatic twist for BC’s King Pacific Lodge. In a rare event during dangerously high 90km/hour winds, several moorings holding the the floating “island” to neighboring Princess Royal Island came undone, posing a potential safety threat to the resort’s guests. Quick-thinking staff members issued an urgent mayday, which was picked up by a nearby BC Ferries vessel, the Northern Adventure. All 22 guests of the luxury resort were evacuated to the town of Prince Rupert, along with their baggage, and the resort staff made it safely to the mainland via a local boat.
According to a BC Ferries spokesperson interviewed by the CBC, Deborah Marshall, the Northern Adventure was luckily close-by when the incident occurred. “We turned our vessel around. We rerouted our ship. It was about 35 minutes north of the site of the floating fishing lodge and we arrived on scene at about 11 a.m. and there were 22 guests on board the lodge and those guests as well as their luggage were transferred over to the Northern Adventure,” she said. Guests were no doubt disappointed to have to cut their vacations short at the opulent King Pacific, which costs from CAD $1,600-4,000 a person per night.
(Image Courtesy of VPI)
Thankfully, no one was injured, and the errant moorings were quickly secured back into place, lest the man-made “island” be carried out into the water. King Pacific Lodge is now shutting down for the season, and what a finale! The rustic wooden lodge was built overwater, rather than on Princess Royal Island, to keep the surrounding environment as close to natural as possible. On BC’s premier eco-luxury retreat, guests are accustomed to thrills like world-class fishing, nature hikes and kayaking, all in a setting of pristine Canadian beauty – but this rescue at sea was an entirely unexpected adventure.
The original CBC report can be found here: Link
Read more about King Pacific Lodge: Vladi Private Islands
