Alliford Bay is located on the southern shore of Skidegate Inlet in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Alliford Bay is the Moresby Island terminus of the important inter-island ferry between Alliford Bay and Skidegate Landing on Graham Island.
The route is served by the MV Kwuna, a small ferry built in 1975, that shuttles between the two main islands of the Queen Charlottes several times a day, carrying passengers and vehicles on the 20-minute ferry ride.
Alliford Bay also serves as a seaplane base for flights to remote communities, lakes, inlets and parks on the islands. Anglers flying from Vancouver to Sandspit are bussed to Alliford Bay for floatplane flights to the fishing lodges deep in the wilderness frontiers of Langara Island, Kano Inlet, Naden Harbour, and other world-class fishing areas of the islands that are not accessible by road.
Alliford Bay was originally built as a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) seaplane air base, operating during World War ll. The only recorded RCAF action during World War II occurred on 27 October 1942, when an RCAF Shark aircraft attacked a submarine off the West Coast with no known results. The small houses along School Road in nearby Sandspit were built by the personnel stationed at the RCAF seaplane air base in Alliford Bay during World War ll. They were later moved from the beach at Sachs Creek into Sandspit after the base closed down. The base was shut down after the war, and the community of Alliford Bay gradually evolved into a logging centre. Alliford Bay is named after Able Seaman William Alliford of the Royal Navy vessel Beaver, which surveyed the bay in 1866.
Population: 50
Location: Alliford Bay is located 15 minutes west of Sandspit on the northern shore of Moresby Island. The Queen Charlotte Islands are accessed by ferry from Prince Rupert to the Skidegate Landing Ferry Terminal on Graham Island, by air from Vancouver to Sandspit on Moresby Island (770 km), and by air from Prince Rupert to Sandspit. Other commercial air services (including float planes and helicopters) are available at Sandspit, Queen Charlotte City and Masset. A 20-minute ferry ride connects Graham and Moresby Islands.
RCAF Station Alliford Bay Crest - Courtesy Matthew Ferguson
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Updated: June 26, 2005