Haida Gwaii - Tanu

Our next stop was at T'aanuu Llnagaay (Tanu) was also awesome. The Haida
Watchmen here, Helen and Sean, were welcoming and knowledgeable, and toured
us around this village site. Although there were no standing poles at this
site, many longhouse pits were visible and the entire site was covered with
lush green moss. Beautiful.

We also received word that my family would be joining us in a few days -
Mum, Dad, Amy and Strahan. The good little ship Renova is about to get a
little chaotic, and a lot of fun!! :O)
 

The longhouse corner post was still standing.

A longhouse of 6 beam construction.

 

This longhouse was painted by Emily Carr.

Haida Gwaii - Skedans

We left Sandspit following SV Piraeus over the bar and south along the coast of Moresby. After a beautiful sail south, we rafted to Pireaus in front of the ancient Haida village of Skedans or K'uuna Llnagaay.

Mary and Walter, the on-site Haida Watchmen, welcomed us on the beach, and
gave us a tour of the site. We were in awe at the old longhouse pits and
felt fortunate to see memorial poles, mortuary poles, and even house corner
posts. Their tour was excellent, and we were able to compare the current
artifacts with pictures taken in the early 1900s. Very cool.

Our hosts were quick to forgive John's comment about the tasty looking deer
on the beach (which turned out to be Mary's pet) and they were kind and
generous hosts, teaching us about this site and the Haida culture.

Mary was filleting a halibut when we arrived, and generously shared some
with Bill and his guests aboard Piraeus. He invited us to join them for
dinner, and we gladly pulled together some appies and chocolate cupcakes to
celebrate George's birthday aboard. What a feast we had!

We followed s/v Piraeus out of the inlet and over the bar.

Mary's 'tasty-looking' pet.

Mary filleting a nice halibut behind John

This is a horizontal memorial pole. Look closely at the pic below.

Yep - one and the same.

A memorial pole for an important member of the Eagle Clan - whose wealth and importance must have been great, as evidenced by the number of potlatch rings on the pole.

This pole is slowly returning to the earth, yet markings of a whale fin are still visible.

Haida Gwaii - Haida Heritage Centre

We really enjoyed our unplanned stop in Sandspit, Queen Charlotte and
Skidigate. We tied up to the new marina in Sandspit ($.75/ft) and enjoyed
wonderful hot showers. At Queen Charlotte, we tied to the public floats
($.60/ft), which didn't have showers, but we were able to poach an
occasional internet signal.

But our favourite part of our stop here was the Haida Heritage Centre.
Although recently built, they have amassed a wonderful collection of Haida
artefacts, and offer great cultural info and presentations. We wandered
through the exhibits, watched presentations on canoe building and Haida
dance and song, and ate the most wonderful seafood chowder in their café,
complete with herring roe on kelp and seaweed!

Their website is www.haidaheritagecentre.com

Haida Gwaii - North Coast

[I'm desperately behind on blogging about this amazing place. I'll try to
get back on track. Haida Gwaii is an amazing place...I look forward to being
able to add pictures to these posts.]

Finally...after an aborted attempt to reach Haida Gwaii 5 years ago, John
and I are now exploring the wonders of these islands. And we feel fortunate
- blessed - to have the opportunity to do so.

We planned to cross Hecate Strait from Prince Rupert, travel west along the
north coast, then turn south and travel the remote, and poorly charted, west
coast of these islands. We thoroughly enjoyed the North Coast. John
recognized these places from his teenage years as a commercial salmon
fisherman. We stayed at Refuge Cove, and tucked in amidst fishing boats on
Langara Island. As we pushed south on the west coast, we were fighting wind
and waves, and our speed of 2 knots wasn't going to cut it. We weren't going
to make a secure anchorage at this speed. So we made the decision to turn
around. Back to Refuge Cove. And the following day, we made the long trip
down the east coast of the islands to Sandspit.

Although we abandoned the dream of the west coast, we are still excited.
There are lots of great reasons to travel the east side: showers in
Sandspit(!), more ancient village sites to visit, heritage centre, shopping,
fuel opportunities, and so on. And... We could drop our crab traps right
outside the breakwater...California rolls galore!!

Alone at Refuge Cove, but not for long. We were soon joined by several fishing boats...and gifted with salmon and halibut!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This boat, the fish master at Queen Charlotte Lodge, came alongside to say hello, and drop off this...

A yummy lunch! 3 burgers, 4 subs, plus cookies and brownies! Then...he invited us aboard the DRIFTWOOD, their floating outpost for a visit!

 

We visited the ancient Haida village of Kiusta. This triple mortuary pole is very unusual.

 

John's Fishin'

August 1

I was pretty smug about my fishing success in Prince Rupert. Our host Marty
deserves the credit, but I still feel pretty good about it.

But today at Refuge Cove, John had some good fish luck too. He managed to
bring in a halibut and a coho. WITHOUT the use of a rod. The fish even came
cleaned and filleted. He's MR. CHATTY on the docks, and that's what happens.
I was happy to be able to offer up a few banana muffins in thanks for the
coho. The halibut was a gift from a fellow Campbell Riverite. I'll have to
keep a batch of cookie dough on hand, just in case he gets lucky again!
Yippee...fish for dinner!

Prince Rupert Photos

We sail by Marty and his crew as we enter Prince Rupert Harbour

The Magnificent Skeena River

My catch - minus the ling cod

Marty gives us a tour of the North Pacific Cannery

Prince Rupert

We had a fabulous 5 days enjoying Prince Rupert. Last time we were there, we
met Marty and Mae as we limped into the harbour with a blown out rear engine
seal. We became instant friends and we were looking forward to returning and
visiting with them again.

Unfortunately, Mae was stuck in Kelowna with the flu, but Marty met us on
the docks, fed us dinner, invited us to a dock party, and offered us his
truck to allow us to get our errands done around town.

Marty even took us out for a day of fishing where I caught a halibut, a ling
cod, two pink salmon and a herring. All on the same rig. Amazing.

Another day, he took us on a sightseeing tour of the magnificent Skeena
River and the North Pacific Cannery. Very cool.

We had a great time and met lots of great people. We've now dragged
ourselves away, and we've got our sights set on the west coast of Haida
Qwaii.

(Sadly, we did not have an internet connection at the docks, and we aren't
likely to have internet for some time...so I'm not likely to upload photos
for a while).

Prince of Wales

Here's a few pics from our trip down the west coast of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.

Humpback whale in Sumner Strait

Entering Hole in the Wall

Faithful captain keeping watch in the rain

Tlevak Narrows

Totems in Klawock

Totems in Klawock

Sea Otter in Sea Otter Sound

Three bears playing in Waterfall

Humpback breaching (Blurry...but you get the idea)

Sunrise in Nichols Bay

Prince of Wales - West Coast

After leaving Port Protection, we made our way down the west coast of Prince
of Wales Island. We put in long days and the mileage ticked away. We had
been told that this part of Alaska does not see many pleasure boats, and it
is so true! Even our fabulous cruising guide is pretty slim on info in this
area. We've only seen one or two other pleasure cruising boats. There are a
few fishing lodges around here and we've seen several small aluminum fishing
charter boats. And several commercial fishing boats. The landscape is
stunning. Beautiful lush green slopes. Sadly, we're seeing more clear-cut
areas than previously...what a difference it makes. It would appear that our
previous explorations were in cruise ship territory, where those types of
practices are now discouraged.

Along this coast we've stopped at Hole in the Wall, Sarkar Cove, Klawock,
Dunbar Inlet, and hopefully tonight will be Nichols Bay. We've navigated
through several narrows - El Capitan Passage, Skookumchuck, Tonowek Narrows
(aka Little Skookum Chuck), Tlevak Narrows (aka The Skookum Chuck), and Dry
Pass. That's not a typo...three SkookumChucks. Awesome.

Today is the first day we could really sail. We tried motor-sailing on some
days, but it is usually with limited success. Winds have shifted to the
NorthWest, and we're expecting more of the same over the next couple days.
Should give us good and fast conditions for our passage of Dixon Entrance as
we set our sights on Prince Rupert. Finally, Renova is returning to CANADA!

Port Protection

July 19

Port Protection is a town of 60 people on the northern tip of Prince of
Wales Island. We'd met "Alaska John" in Majuro, and he told us about this
boardwalk town, and suggested we come visit him here. And so we did. Our
timing was great - Heather was also here - and we spent a couple of days
hanging out with them, meeting the friendly locals, feasting on yummy King
Salmon, wandering along the boardwalks, picking blueberries, and navigating
to Hole in the Wall. It was great to see them again, and hear about their
recent passage from Majuro to Hawaii (via Penryn Island).

We were sad to leave them...but we're behind schedule, and we need to keep
moving.