We have spent the last 9 days in the Broughton Islands and vicinity, Lagoon Cove, Village Island, Echo Bay, Waddington Bay, Alert Bay and now Port McNeil. Dennis started his flying career in Alert Bay so knows this area by air but it is our first time exploring it by water. He has had lots of moment of reflection. We have enjoyed exploring the West Coast First Nations rich history in this area as well as their warm hospitality during our visit to Alert Bay. The Cultural Centre at Alert Bay holds a large repatriated collection of First Nation Masks and had a dedication to the recent destruction of the residential school that had grave effect for the residents of this island.
Our attempts at crabbing and fishing to date have resulted in a few throw backs because they were too small, but we will persevere!We scored on 5 pounds of fresh halibut from a local fisherman in Alert Bay for $12.00!! Dennis also had a graffiti artist from Chicago that was on Alert Bay (go figure?) paint his propane and motor to make it distinct, to reduce the chance of them being stolen once he goes south.
We are building a network of friends as we meet up with different boats that we have met along the way. Those of you that know me well, will know this pleases me! For those of those of you that recognize the significance of this, Dennis successfully did the first water leak test on his water marker with only one small leak. He has inserted the filter and we are now ready to do the final test than voila we will be able to make our on water!!!
For those of you that are interested in tracking us, we are having trouble with the tracking site. Turns out they don't have coverage this far north. We will try to locate another site and let you know.
Village Island, abandoned First Nations Village
Fallen Sea Wolf Totem, the first picture is from a book as it was, the second picture is the totem we found in it's state of decay. The First Nations believe in letting things go back to nature rather than preserving and restoring them.
Alert Bay |
| Cultural Centre mask |
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| Cultural Centre |
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| Grave yard |
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| Grave yard with fallen totem |
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| Graffiti-ed tank and motor |
