It’s extremely unusual for an oil tanker to take Active Pass instead of the neighbouring Boundary Pass, favoured by almost all other commercial routes for its wider, calmer waters. Swanson says he’s never seen an oil tanker take the pass before.
“When you have a tanker travelling through these waters. there is always tremendous danger with dangerous goods being spilt in any amount. It would be a disaster for that to happen,” Swanson says. The arrows point to Active Pass, running between Galiano and Mayne Island. Boundary Pass is the much larger waterway that follows the marine border between the US and Canada.