Shipping line
Black Ball Ferry Line
Black Ball Ferry Line runs 2 crossings listed here, 42 sailings a week, busiest at Victoria and Port Angeles. The most frequent is Victoria to Port Angeles.
- 2
- routes
- 42
- sailings a week
- 1
- vessels
- Seattle, Washington
- based in
What to know
- Photocopies and REAL ID cards are not accepted at the border; the ferry's list of valid documents starts with passports, passport cards, NEXUS cards and enhanced driver's licences.
- Drivers must arrive 60 minutes before departure in Port Angeles and 90 minutes before in Victoria, except for the earliest Victoria sailing.
- Online vehicle reservations close three hours before departure and carry a non-refundable fee.
- Walk-on and bicycle passengers buy tickets at the terminal on the day, arriving half an hour before sailing.
- Fares are priced in US dollars, and Canadian funds are accepted at an exchange rate.
- The Coho made its first commercial sailing to Victoria on 29 December 1959.
Checked on against cohoferry.com.
About Black Ball Ferry Line
One ship, the M.V. Coho, makes every Black Ball crossing, linking Victoria's Inner Harbour with Port Angeles on Washington's Olympic Peninsula in a 90-minute run over the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our timetable shows three sailings a day in each direction, 21 a week.
Because this is an international crossing, border rules shape the trip more than the timetable does. Every traveller needs a document accepted under the US Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, such as an enhanced driver's licence, a NEXUS card, a passport or a US passport card. Visitors from Visa Waiver countries need an approved ESTA before they reach the Victoria terminal.
Drivers can reserve, and part of each sailing is kept for vehicles that turn up without a booking, loading after the reserved cars. The Coho's vehicle clearance takes motorhomes, trailers, lorries and coaches. Foot passengers and cyclists need no reservation except over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.
2 crossings
Routes they sail
Ordered by how often each crossing runs.
Before you sail
Sailing with a Canadian ferry line
Boarding, baggage and vehicle rules apply across the network, not just to one operator.
Vancouver to Victoria by Ferry: Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay Guide
BC Ferries' Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay crossing takes 1 hour 35 minutes, with 8 to 16 sailings a day this autumn. Fares, booking options, check-in cut-offs, bus links and the two Nanaimo alternatives, taken from BC Ferries' own pages.Read the guide
Planning6 min read