Inside Passage - Definition and Overview

The Inside Passage of the Alaska Panhandle and coastal British Columbia is a route for oceangoing vessels that travel between the mainland and coastal islands along a series of passages. Ships using the route can avoid some of the bad weather in the open ocean, and to visit the many isolated communities along the route. It is heavily travelled by cruise ships, freight lines, fishing craft and ships of the Alaska Marine Highway and British Columbia Ferries systems.

The name inside passage is also used to refer to the ocean and islands around the passage.

The Alaskan portion of the Inside Passage, in the north, extends 500 air miles from north to south and 100 miles from east to west. The area contains 1,000 islands, 15,000 miles of shoreline and thousands of coves and bays. British Columbia's southern portion of the route is of similar extent, and includes the narrow, protected Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland, as well as the wider and more exposed Hecate Strait near the Queen Charlotte Islands.