Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -A number of Cortes Island residents recognized a familiar face directing traffic at the Whaletown Ferry terminal last month. Mind you, Mike Moore is better known from the days he sailed the Misty Isles than as the Mate on a BC Ferry. He was in Alert Bay when Cortes Currents caught up to him, but let's go back to the beginning.
“I was waiting in line in Campbell River on a hot May or April day, when I saw in the media how BC fairies was struggling. I was looking over at Quathiaski Cove, seeing the two ferries there, one of which was not running. It's promised to be running, but it wasn't yet and the reason why it isn't is partially because of staffing problems. I just went, ‘Ah man, this is a good form of community service that I can step up to,’” explained Moore.
“I was professionally trained as a Mariner at the Canadian Coast Guard College in Sydney, Nova Scotia after quite a few years of fishing experience here on the West Coast. I did the four year officer Cadet program from 1986 and graduated in1990 and then worked as navigation officer on the Coast Guard ships out of Victoria until 1997, which is when I got out of the Coast Guard and picked up Misty Isles. I believe I received one of the finest educations in maritime science and navigation that you can get and I continue to use it. Celestial navigation just went into star talks for me, and in just navigating Misty Isles and other vessels. I've always had that ticket in my back pocket.”
There have been a lot of technological and even operational changes since Moore worked on a ship, but he still has a chief mate certificate and a 500 ton master certificate.
“Those are valuable, and ferries recognize that. It's been a very steep learning curve for me, but at this stage in my life, having let go of Misty Isles, having let go of a lot of things, I am in a position where I could just step up and go, 'All right, let's do this.’"
