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Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) was definitely worth the trip. You can’t find an area that is a more primitive rainforest in the Pacific Northwest—old cedar trees and golden spruce trees with diameters of 16 to 20 feet. That makes them approximately 1,600 to 2,000 years old. Just about the time you thought you had found the most beautiful spot or anchorage in the island group you would turn a corner and find one just as impressive if not more so. The Haida heritage sites were shrouded in an air of mystery and tragedy. They are the remnants of a culture of people who numbered more than 10,000 and now have only about 750 left of unbroken decent. The watchmen, a term derived from the three figures on the top of totem poles, are now the guardians of what remains. Fortunately they are a good bunch and dedicated to what they are doing. They were fun to spend time with and glean what they were about and why they felt it was important to be about what they are doing now. Gladys, one of the watchmen at Windy Bay (Hlk’Yah Ilnagaay) was a master weaver. She took the time to show me the hats, baskets, dolls, and mats she had woven in cedar, spruce root, and bull kelp. The windy bay watchmen were among the most fun. Since I spent most of the day there and it was getting towards evening they invited me to dinner and they let me stay on the site buoy overnight.

Gwaii Haanas (the National Park) is a one way straight line 93 nautical miles from Sandspit, the closest civilization as it were. By the time you work in and out of all the islands in the archipelago on the East side of Moresby Island the trip is easily make it more than 150 nautical miles. There is no fuel or any kind of service in the area except for emergency situations. The Canadian Coast Guard patrols the area well and they checked on me at least four times that I can recall. But the run required my main fuel tank and four 6-gallon jerry cans to ensure adequate fuel with an emergency reserve for weather holds. Luckily and old friend, Lou, from Butedale in Princess Royal Channel, lent me two of the cans to get across and I purchased two additional ones in Sandspit at a punishing price.

The Haida fishing guides in Sandspit paid me an understated compliment. When I first arrived they came over to chat. As usual the little boat attracts a lot of attention. They were incredulous that I had crossed the Hecate on our own bottom. With a mixture of disbelief and concern for my sanity they went off shaking their heads. However, the next day and when I stopped back before crossing back towards the mainland every one of them would come up and call me “Captain.”

The other funny story of Gwaii Haanas was my encounter with Gwolii, one of the Haida watchmen at Hotspring Island, as she saw me take the buoy in front of the watchman’s cabin in a particularly gnarly chop and wind. When I got in she informed me that the watchmen had renamed my boat Dupjuu. This in Haida means “small.” From that point on every watchman told me that they were instructed to pass on to Gwolii when Dupjuu had been spotted and let her know that I was OK. It seems that except for kayaks, which of course travel in groups, this was the smallest boat they had seen cruise Gwaii Haanas.

I have since made it back across Hecate Strait and worked my way back down the Grenville Channel, this time stopping at every inlet off the channel. It took five days just to do that but what a treat. Took a break at Hartley Bay, and then went over to Bishops Bay Hot Springs where I met the Porter family from Terrys, BC—neat people. Since I had a spot on the float, I stayed there for an extra day before going around to Gardner Canal to Europa Bay Hot Springs and to try and get a look at the old glaciers in mountain valleys of the canal. The weather closed in and the overhanging mist, clouds, and fog did not show the glaciers so I exited again back to Bishops Bay and then down to Butedale.

After laying over at Klemtu for fuel and groceries, I took Jackson Passage to Rescue Bay before heading up in to the Fiordland National Recreation Area.

The Fiordlands are impressive. The quick way to describe it is a Yosemite on the water—escarpments and domes of glacial rock that rival El Capitan. I was the only boat at the two anchorages I picked and each offered the opportunity for spotting Grizzly bears, but it was not my turn to see them. On the way out of the Fiordlands I might have gotten a glimpse of the Spirit Bear up at Kit Bay as I headed down towards Klemtu. I anchored just South of the bay in a little pocket called Goat Cove and got growled at by what could have been a bear but did not spot it. Ernie, my buddy at the Klemtu fuel dock who wonders if this time is the last time he will see me, said that they had spotted the white bear in the Kit Bay area, so who knows it might have been what I saw. He also mentioned that it was a she and had been seen with two cubs.

As I re-enter the main route for a while it is evident that there are a lot of people headed home—South. Places like Rescue Bay in Mathieson Channel and Shearwater are chuck full of boats.

My plans for the next few weeks includes going up thru McKenzie Park and trying to find McKenzie Rock where he recorded the date he reached the Pacific Coast. Also want to look in to the area around the Hakai Recreational Area and up River’s Inlet, another spot that is part of the BC Grizzly coast to see if I can find the bears before presenting to Cape Caution for the transit back to Northern Vancouver Island.

That means that I will probably disappear again until the last week of August or the first week of September. So assume everything is copasetic unless the EPERB goes off. There are no more links to civilization until Port Hardy or Port McNeil.