Early October gives you three chances a day to sail between Victoria and Port Angeles on the MV Coho; from 13 October there are two, and from 4 January 2027 there are none for a month while the ship is out for annual maintenance. Fares are charged in US dollars, and a car ticket covers the driver only.
Timetable published for 29 September 2026 to 3 January 2027, then no service 4 January to 3 February 2027 for annual maintenance; sailings from 4 February 2027 not yet published; checked 29 September 2026 Black Ball Ferry Line – Schedule & Fares · 2026-09-29
Set the car and the walk-on side by side and the Coho looks like two different services. On foot you pay US$25.00, turn up half an hour before sailing and usually need no reservation. With a car you pay US$88.00 for the vehicle and driver plus US$25.00 for each extra adult, reserve for a separate fee, and must be at the Victoria terminal 90 minutes ahead because U.S. immigration is done before boarding. The crossing is 90 minutes either way.
Until 12 October 2026 the Coho makes three round trips a day; from 13 October it drops to two, and that timetable runs to 3 January 2027. The ship is then out of service from 4 January to 3 February 2027 for annual maintenance, and Black Ball had not published sailings for February onwards when we checked.
Black Ball Ferry Line, with administrative offices in Seattle, describes the Coho as the only daily, year-round vehicle and passenger ferry between downtown Victoria and Washington State. It leaves from the Inner Harbour in the middle of British Columbia's capital, but only two or three times a day, so the sailing you pick shapes the whole trip.
Black Ball prices everything in US dollars. Canadian cash is taken at both terminals with an exchange premium, and cards can be charged in Canadian or US funds at the Victoria window, but online and in Port Angeles cards are billed in US dollars and your bank does the conversion. A fuel surcharge is already built into the figures below and can change.
A vehicle fare is vehicle and driver; every other adult in the car pays the same US$25.00 as a walk-on, and children 5 to 11 pay US$12.50. The reservation fee is separate, non-refundable and does not come off the fare, which is paid at the terminal.
| Adult, 12 and over | USD 25 |
| Child, 5 to 11 | USD 12.50 |
| Child, 4 and under | Free |
| Bicycle | Free |
| Vehicle and driver, up to 18 ft | USD 88 |
| Each extra foot over 18 ft | USD 6 |
| Motorcycle and driver | USD 50 |
| Motorcycle and driver, with sidecar or trailer | USD 75 |
| Motorized tricycle and driver | USD 62 |
| Motorized tricycle and driver, with trailer | USD 88 |
| Vehicle, one way, booked online | USD 12 |
| Vehicle, one way, by phone or at the office | USD 16 |
| Vehicle, round trip, booked online | USD 18 |
| Vehicle, round trip, by phone or at the office | USD 26 |
| Motorcycle, one way, booked online | USD 6 |
| Motorcycle, round trip, booked online | USD 8.50 |
Black Ball fares in force on 29 September 2026, fuel surcharge included and subject to change Black Ball Ferry Line – Schedule & Fares · 2026-09-29
The Coho runs straight across the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the Inner Harbour in Victoria and the downtown waterfront in Port Angeles, on the Olympic Peninsula: 22.59 nautical miles, or 42 km, by the operator's measure. No ferry gets from Victoria to American soil more directly, in Black Ball's own description.
The Victoria terminal is on Belleville Street in the Inner Harbour, walking distance from the downtown hotels. Walk-ons buy or collect tickets inside and clear U.S. immigration here. Drivers check in instead at a ticket window at the end of Oswego Street, about a block further on, with ID for everyone in the vehicle ready.
Nothing can be left at the terminal itself. Black Ball points drivers to Robbins Parking at 203 Quebec Street, where overnight parking starts at $16 a day, and there is a five-minute drop-off zone outside the building for foot passengers.
In Port Angeles the ferry docks at the downtown waterfront, and after landing you clear a U.S. customs check. Sailing the other way, vehicles check in at the drive-up window to the right of the main terminal building an hour before departure.
There is no terminal car park here either; the operator lists private lots within a block or two, at US$12 to US$15 a day, some of them cash only.
For Canadian and U.S. citizens that means a passport, a U.S. passport card, a NEXUS card or an enhanced driver's licence (British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario are among the issuers accepted). Photocopies and phone images are refused, and a REAL ID does not count.
Southbound, U.S. immigration is in Victoria before boarding and U.S. customs on arrival; northbound, CBSA customs after you step off in Victoria.
Legal in British Columbia and Washington, but illegal to take across the international border.
Children younger than 12 are not allowed on board without one. Citizens aged 15 and under can travel on a birth certificate or citizenship card.
Walk-ons normally need no reservation, but Black Ball makes an exception for the Canadian Thanksgiving and Crabfest weekend in early October, when foot passengers should book too.
Black Ball's founders, R.J. and Lois Acheson, commissioned the Coho in 1959; the keel was laid in Seattle on 12 January that year and she made her first commercial run to Victoria on 29 December 1959. She was re-engined in 2004 and, according to the company, has carried more than 26 million passengers and 7 million vehicles since. Today she is rated for 1,000 passengers and 115 vehicles.
Compared with the free provincial crossings in the BC interior, such as the Harrop cable ferry off Highway 3A, the Coho is an international ship with two border agencies, US-dollar fares and a fixed timetable.
Three each way until 12 October, then two each way from 13 October.
Only for the first three days: the ship is out of service from 4 January to 3 February 2027 for annual maintenance.
No. It covers the vehicle up to 18 feet and the driver; passengers pay the passenger fares, and children 4 and under ride free.
Fares are set in US dollars. Canadian cash is accepted at both terminals with an exchange premium, and cards at the Victoria window can be charged in Canadian funds; online bookings are in US dollars.
Heading south, U.S. immigration happens in Victoria before you board and a U.S. customs check follows in Port Angeles. Heading north, you go through Canadian customs after landing in Victoria.
Ninety minutes before sailing, at the vehicle ticket window at the end of Oswego Street; 60 minutes in Port Angeles. Unclaimed reservations are forfeited 60 minutes before departure.
Yes: the bike travels free and you pay the passenger fare. Cyclists board through the passenger ramp and use racks on the bow, and should arrive 30 minutes before departure.