MV Uchuck III

Historic cargo vessel making weekly runs to remote coastal communities — the best way to reach Nootka Island

The MV Uchuck III departs from the Gold River government wharf on scheduled runs to remote communities along Nootka Sound, roughly 7 kilometres down the Heber River from the village. She is a working cargo ship — freight, mail, and supplies for isolated communities — and also takes passengers, making her one of the few ways to reach Nootka Island without a private boat or floatplane.

Day trips and overnight excursions are available. The overnight trip to Nootka Island is the main draw: the ship delivers cargo at several stops along the way, and passengers disembark at Friendly Cove (Yuquot) on Nootka Island, where Captain Cook landed in 1778 and where the Spanish established a settlement that was the site of a significant international dispute between Britain and Spain. Off-grid accommodation huts on the island allow for an overnight stay before the ship picks passengers up on the return run. Book well in advance; the Uchuck is popular and the schedule fills up in summer. Check the current timetable through Nootka Sound Service.

things to do sight
A story
The Uchuck III is one of the last working passenger-cargo ships on the BC coast. Built in 1942 as a US Navy minesweeper, she has been serving the remote communities of Nootka Sound since 1959. The communities she supplies — some accessible only by sea — depend on her weekly runs for mail, food, and fuel. Passengers ride alongside the cargo, which is hoisted off the deck by a crane onto smaller boats when the water is too shallow to dock.