A painfully expensive era in B.C. history will end tomorrow morning when the last of B.C. Ferries' infamous PacifiCats leaves Vancouver harbour for the Persian Gulf.

The fleet of three aluminum fast ferries was commissioned by then-NDP premier Glen Clark in the late 1990s at a cost of $454 million, but was promptly yanked from service amid frequent breakdowns. Pundits say the scandal surrounding the vessels helped scuttle Clark's political career.

The Washington Marine Group snapped the vessels up for $19.8 million in 2003. After years of storage on the North Vancouver waterfront, the vessels were sold in July to United Arab Emirates yacht yard Abu Dhabi Mar for an undisclosed amount, believed to be more than $20 million.

David Crockett of North Vancouver's Pacific Northwest Ship and Cargo Services is handling the ferry transfers for Abu Dhabi Mar.

"I'm not allowed to comment on what [Abu Dhabi Mar] paid, but they are paying much more than Washington Marine Group did [in 2003]," Crockett said.

On Thursday, a 33,000-tonne heavy-lift ship was maneouvred under the 1,500-tonne Explorer in North Vancouver's Deep Cove in "a delicate operation," Crockett said. The heavy-lift ship will depart Deep Cove tomorrow at about 10 a.m. with the Explorer aboard for a 45-day voyage to the port of Jeblali in the United Arab Emirates.

Crockett predicted the fast cats will be able to live up to their name in the relatively calm waters of the Persian Gulf, safely reaching their originally advertised top speeds of 38 knots. They were unsuitable for the stormy passages of coastal B.C., where floating logs were sucked into and killed their jet engines, Crockett said.

"They were in the shop more than they were running," he said. "In my opinion, it was a boondoggle from the start."

The ferries also proved far more fuel hungry at high speeds than expected, and threw off a heavy wake.

Crockett joked that his company had planned to load the Explorer up in Victoria's Inner Harbour, in full view of the legislative grounds, as a last reminder to government of how much taxpayer money was kissed goodbye during the ill-fated ferry program.