B.C. Ferries traffic was delayed around Nanaimo on Saturday (May 18) after a member of the local wildlife went for a swim across the channel that hosts the terminal there.

“All @bcferries traffic stopped outside Nanaimo this morning for a black bear,” North Vancouver resident Susannah Steers wrote on social media alongside a photograph of the animal.

“I always love coming to Vancouver Island, and catching sight of a bear in the water was a delightful & unexpected surprise!” she wrote in a second post.

B.C. Ferries later confirmed that the bear was indeed the reason it delayed one sailing.

“The #QueenofOakBay stopped outside of #DepartureBay to allow a black bear who was swimming by to pass,” reads a message posted on the Crown corporation’s Twitter page.

https://twitter.com/BCFerries/status/1129837197824274436

The bear received a police escort across the channel and made it safely to the other side without incident.