After making it to the western end of Johnstone Strait, we wanted to travel as quickly to Port McNeil as possible as we needed water and food but wanted to also minimize motoring as much as possible. We woke up to fog in Growler Cove after a long day on the water getting through Johnstone Strait and so had to wait for the fog to clear up a bit before raising the anchor and moving further west and north.
Of course, the wind prediction was a bit off and we ended up motoring all the way from Growler Cove to Alert Bay with hardly a breeze in Broughton Strait. We decided to anchor in the bay opposite the U’mista Cultural Centre instead of going to the public wharf. We were the only ones in the bay but by the end of the evening we had another sailboat join us.
And this is where the title comes in with “Alert Bay, then and now”. We actually were in Alert Bay on our old boat, Blue Tale, in 2014 and really loved the place and history. Not much has changed since then except a few buildings have been torn down, many of the totem poles look more weathered as they have aged and businesses have changed names. Rob made some friends in town and quickly exchanged stories of how the people on the island fished for salmon compared to how we and the Inuit fished and preserved arctic char. The Nation on the island makes a dish similar to the Inuit with fermenting fish so that it renders down to an oil which is highly sought after and might also be an acquired taste.
We were a bit late in the day and did not get a chance to visit the U’mista Cultural Centre, which was built in 1980 next to the old residential school. The centre houses collections of carved and decorated masks, coppers and other Kwakwaka’wakw ceremonial artifacts. The St. Michael’s Indian Residential School, which was already falling apart in 2014 was demolished in February 2015 and the healing/cleansing ceremony, hosted by the ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation, was attended by church leaders, First Nations (including representatives of Assembly of First Nations), politicians and former students.
We decided to grab a lovely mocha at the Culture Shock Gallery and walked along the waterfront to making our way over to the ʼNa̱mǥis Burial Ground where there are stands of totem poles. The totem poles ranged from those in final stages of decomposition to the more recently erected vibrant poles. As culture dictates the poles are not repaired or repainted, as the First Nation believe that “all things must return to nature”. Some families believe that the ancestor’s spirit has left once the totem falls down.
We ended up having a lovely dinner of nachos and beer at Gordie’s Restaurant & Lounge, previously Pass’n Thyme Inn & Restaurant that also had served good fish and chips.
~Sophia & Rob
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Sailing Anuri 