Today we woke up to blue sky and sunshine. Perfectly glorious weather for a zodiac boat ride! Since J has paddled in Haida Gwaii for two weeks in 2023, he planned this day for me to see a bit of the beauty of Haida Gwaii.
Breakfast of sausages, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, yogurt and fruit was prepared and served to us at 6:45 AM. Our guide, Casey, from Moresby Explorers, picked us up at 7:15 AM. We picked up two women from Juneau, Alaska at the nearby golf course, then picked up another seven passengers at the ferry. All of those passengers had walked on the ferry as pedestrians.
We drove south on Moresby Island for about 45 minutes (33 km) to get to Moresby camp. We were all outfitted with knee high rubber boots, rubber rain pants and life jackets integrated into warm coats. We then loaded into our zodiac boat.
Our put in point was just a spectacular site.
Above is Casey loading the boat into the water. Generally you sit in the zodiac as if you were sitting on a horse. Casey made frequent stops on the water to tell us about something we could see on shore. The first spot we stopped at, called Arrow Camp, had a number of posts sticking out of the water. We learned that these posts used to support a train track and the train used to swing out onto the water (away from land) to drop cedar logs directly into the water! Amazing.
The Federal Government and the Haida people tried to come to an agreement over ownership of Haida Gwaii in the 1970's. They didn't agree who owned it - but they did agree it should be protected. The result was the establishment of Gwaii Hanaas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site. We were privileged to stop at the K'uuna Llnagaay (briefly known by its English name, Skedans). This is a Haida site is guarded by The Watchmen. Mel and her daughter Raven gave us a tour of this sacred ground. The Watchmen program is to guard and protect sites as too many sites were vandalized or had artefacts stolen, prior to the establishment of the program.
We had our lunch on the beach here after the tour. The sun just kept getting hotter. This is far hotter than usual for Haida Gwaii (and our high today was 19C). I was prepared for cool temperatures and rain for this trip!
After our delicious lunch, we loaded up into the boat and carried on in a counter clockwise direction around Louise Island. Casey had us stop at Daas Beach - a beautiful sand beach. A few people went swimming, some sat in the shade, we followed Casey to learn about trees in the area.
We saw a number of the rare abalone shells - which we are forbidden from removing from the park.
After 45 minutes we headed back into the boat for the final boat ride back to Camp. We were fortunate to see a black bear. Bears on the island have longer legs than normal and larger jaws for consuming shellfish and crabs.
We then returned to camp and retraced our steps to take off our gear.
I should say it was really quite cool while zipping along the water, so the wet weather gear was needed to keep us warm.
Once safely dropped off back at our Seaview B & B, we showered, changed and drove to the golf course for supper. We sat outside on the second floor outdoor patio to eat.
All that fresh air is making me tired and it is only 9:18 PM!
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