strait up

quadra to port mcneill - for scale, its ~84 km from sayward to PM as the crow flies

we've been hustling up the strait for the last week to try to make ground going north. as i wrote that, i realize it hasn't even been a week, but it feels like we left quadra ages ago! each day has been full of incredible things.

we left granite bay monday evening and headed up to turn bay, between turn island and east thurlow island, gobbling up fresh-caught crab along the way. it's always fun to turn the corner into johnstone strait from discovery passage - like a crossroads of two great highways, and the beginning of big things to come.

aaron roused early to catch the tide up the strait, since it's nearly impossible to combat with a boat the size of ours. the original destination for the day was kelsey bay, but running with the tide got us there in a mere couple of hours. we cruised past kelsey bay, at one point breaking eight knots in the roiling tides, now putting port neville in our sights. i could not get enough of the fog that morning. it was creeping along the shore in cliché tendrils, undulating on some unseen drafts moving the fog alone, just oozing mystique.

like being in a sue coleman painting

we made it in to port neville with half the day to spare. there is a spit of land there called rober's nob (pronounced as "robber's") where aaron spent a few summers when he was a little kid - also where he caught his first salmon! it's an incredible piece of earth; it has a deep midden beach on one side and a collection of mysterious petroglyphs on the other. the spit itself is flat and covered in huge trees. there is a house there now, and the excavation beneath it is half dirt half shells. clearly it was a well used site by the first nations people, and one could see why!

ancient art, also uncle steve's stone wall

we spent some time tracing the petroglyphs with our fingers and drawing pictures, then went for a wander down the beach. the kids found a "cave" underneath an odd cedar tree that branched two ways from the root and hung out over the beach. they bravely crawled in below, but i couldn't quite bring myself to wriggle in there. aaron dug up a few globs of clay that we brought back to the rocks to make 'tacos' with (and became inspiration for dinner), then rowed back to rafiki in time to dodge the rain.

how muck became dinner!

we were up early again the next day, though not as early, and wound our way up the strait to boat bay. although we've been trying to make ground, we are also keeping the kids in mind and stopping at interesting places. so we dropped anchor in boat bay, home to the CETUS straitwatch camp and a heck of a lot of beach findings - one of which we stashed in the woods to collect upon our return (see the video gallery for a glimpse of what it can do!). we salvaged other useful bits: decent lengths of good rope, a foam buoy, and a fishing float. it was an exciting treasure hunt to be sure.

possibly one of the funniest things we've done so far

after our tresure hunt, we dragged the kids along for a hike. the signs implied that it led to a lookout, but we never made it. everyone got quite wet, and we were barely able to bribe the kids along with conveniently stationed huckleberry bushes. they did well, but it was a bit more scramble than they're used to (clearly we need to 'drag' them on more hikes). no whales to be seen this day, but at least the berries were ripe.

we settled in to a damp and quiet evening on the boat, enjoying some fish for dinner (finally!) and appreciating this leg of the journey so far. although we haven't had much wind for sailing, it's kind of a blessing to come up johnstone in the calm. it can be pretty wicked in there, especially if the tide and wind are conflicting. nobody really knows just what goes on in there, either. aaron and i got into our stickiest situation to date heading from port neville to kelsey bay back in the day, so i for one am appreciating the stillness in the air - the kids don't know what they're missing, but i'm sure they are appreciating it too!

a not-so-early morning whisked us into blackfish sound with the tide, the world only semi-obscured by fog. aaron wanted to dip in to double bay, as he used to go there for bait when he was a child fisherman. he didn't recognize it really, though he did see a lady he met in the hot tub at cortes who said she was going there as part of a whale research program. i later learned that they are trying to set up a facility there to rehabilitate a whale who was stolen from the wild when she was only three years old and taken to seaworld. though she has been in captivity for fifty years, she still calls out for her family all the time, and only gets her echo in return. at this point the project is still up in the air (i think), though advocates are hopeful to get her back soon.

after double bay we went through the plumper islands on a recommendation from a friend of mine who spent a few summers up that way. they were a charming group of islands, full of bull kelp and birds and fish, and a welcome break to the blank world the fog had created around us (literally at one point the only way to tell the sky from the sea was a smudge of blue peeking out above us).

and when we came through the other side of the group: whales! at first aaron thought it was an orca, but it was actually a minke whale. i love the way they move so fast, and come up with their "nose" first and show their tall dorsal fin very last. we were fortunate to get a side-by-side comparison, as a humpback promptly zipped by going the other direction. they come up hump first, blow right away, slowly slide their back along until their short dorsal fin shows, then roll the last of their spine and wave a huge tail in farewell. it's utterly thrilling to be sharing the sea with these graceful beasts.

not long after we made it into alert bay and dropped anchor in the harbour. located on cormorant island, alert bay is now a very quiet place, though it used to be the "hub of the north". you can tell from the water the place is past its prime; dilapitated boat sheds are collapsing along the shore, and there are several wharves, though all but one are nearly empty. of course alert bay is not without its island charm. many of the buildings lining the waterfront are colourful, and lookout points are placed periodically along the beach. aaron said he'd never seen a place with so much waterfront access, and i would have to agree.

that afternoon we did a foray ashore and got a brief first nations history lesson from one of the shop owners by the dock. the first nations in alert bay are the namgis tribe (pronounced mostly how it looks, but with subtle tones that are difficult to mimic), though they were originally from the nimpkish valley across the strait. the government relocated them there back in the painful days of colonization, and so far no move has been made to go back.

treats, beach explores (SO MUCH SEAGLASS OMG), and a jaunt down to see the totem poles completed our first afternoon in alert bay.

a mashup of totem poles and tags from around town

the following morning we were looking to catch the tide just before noon, but were also hoping to squeeze in a look at the u'mista cultural centre. well, it turned in to much more than a squeeze - we barely set foot in the door before realizing we would be missing this tide. the place was absolutely loaded with history, information, artifacts, and pride. above all, i was so touched by the pride and care put in to creating this special place. the ladies working there were not only knowledgeable but also involved in their history and culture, and claimed it so strongly as their own.

when we first came in, there was a video playing about potlaches in the area. it had been made for the cultural centre to explain the potlach ceremony and to showcase some recent-ish events. the footage and visuals were incredibly powerful; to see the regalia and masks in action in their intended setting was deeply moving.

a huge mask, featured in the potlach video

there also just so happened to be a beading class going on when we arrived, so we sat down to make some earrings and i picked the lady's brain about namgis and kwakwaka'wakw culture. it was sort of an information overload, but i did my best to gobble it up and will do my best not to garble it as i share here.

the kwakwaka'wakw (pronounced like kwa-kwa-ka-woww) territory extends from just above comox up the coast to smith sound (see this map for specifics - colour code represents dialects). within that area there are five different dialects spoken (i believe there used to be more but some were lost and others were merged). the namgis speak kwak'wala, though only a handful speak it fluently. almost everything in the museum was labeled in both kwak'wala and english, and they are teaching it in the elementary schools on the island.

the first gallery had many smaller items in glass cases and a history board along the wall. it was full of tragedy, of course, starting with the creation of canada as a country and what that meant for the first nations. all throughout it highlighted documents showing the dehumanization of the first nations people and the criminal actions of the settlers. it's heartbreaking to read each and every time, yet throughout there was sprinklings of hope. even with the ban on traditional ceremony, people held underground potlaches for decades to keep their history alive - even paddling through the night so as to not get caught by indian agents. parents fought tooth and nail to protect their children from being taken to "industrial" schools, again preserving culture when and where they could. letters were sent and stands were made all the while, urging for peace and equality - the words of which brings one right to tears. and in the end, though the hurt is far from healed, there are cultures regaining their power across the land and the namgis is one.

the main gallery at u'mista is breathtaking. it is a separate room, built like a longhouse out of cedar planks and enormous pillars. it smelled of cedar and old things - in a good way! most of the artifacts were ones that had been seized or stolen, and since returned - meaning they were very old. there were masks, boxes, rattles, blankets, hats and loops woven from cedar, and costumes made from natural and traded materials.

seeing the masks created by hands of old with ancient techniques (though some with a blend of modern tools) was very humbling. they were far from simple, yet striking in their starkness. the beadwork on the blankets was so fine (especially impressive after dallying around trying to make earrings for an hour), as was the woven cedar. it's hard to imagine starting with a strip of bark and ending up with a garment. many pieces were decorated with abalone, which they paddled all the way to california to trade.

copper was also present throughout. it was a material of tremendous value, and gained value every time it was traded and its story was told. at potlaches, chiefs would show their value by giving gifts - the more they gave, the more wealth they gained in social standing. one thing that some kwakwaka'wakw people used to do was break copper shields to show their wealth. one of the ladies working there told me the namgis didn't practice this because they felt it was akin to murder (though one of the totems outside the door was holding a shieldbreaker).

(disclaimer: i am doing my best to get this right based on memory - today i bought a notebook to start writing things down! my apologies if i have any of this wrong).

photography was prohibited in the main gallery, but you can see a little glimpse of some of the artifacts on their website - i highly recommend looking. above all, i highly recommend going! i will add more photos to our gallery here, including a segment of origin stories.

i left with more questions than i came with, but you can only trap kids in a museum for so long. they surely did appreciate it, if finding it a bit creepy, but four hours is a lot and i thanked them for their patience. the rest of our evening was spent in reflection - though sid and aaron did venture out to see the world's tallest totem pole!

which brings us to today! today? i am writing this at the stroke of midnight, so it's soon to be yesterday, but yes, today. today we hauled up our anchor with a thick covering of kelp, brushed it off, and made for port mcneill. we arrived by midmorning and made quite the town day of it. we hit up the local market, did a pickup at the post office, took care of business at the library, did a grocery run (borrowed the cart to bring my groceries back to the dock!), did a laundry run, checked out the whale research info centre, had showers....it's been a full day!

our next stop is bella bella, though i can't say how long it will take us to get there. hopefully we have enough produce to last, hopefully the winds are kind to round cape caution, and hopefully we see a bunch of tremendous things to keep this journey kicking. wish us luck!