Today was my first day of skippering! Which meant that officially, I was in charge of the boat for the day. Which includes when we pull up anchor, and where we go, and who drives. And, ultimately, that everyone is being safe and responsible, too. We had all decided that we wanted to spend one more night in Clayoquot Sound before we stop in Tofino for a night to restock and such, and from where our 3rd crew member begins his own homeward journey. For the first time I drove the boat out of her anchoring spot, then used the GPS to navigate us back down Shelter Inlet. I even steered us through the narrow, windey and rocky Sulphur Inlet – which wasn’t actually so bad because I kept remembering that in a big boat travelling a mere 5 knots Everything. Happens. In. Slow. Motion. Any adjustments you make to your heading take a few moments to take effect – overcompensating or using too rapid of movements on the giant steering wheel is not the way to go.
After a few hours and the transformation of mist into light rain, we pulled into the port of Ahousaht in Matilda Inlet on Flores Island, recommended in our guide as a good place to stop and get supplies. Plus, the book mentioned a Café and a restaurant which we were most interested in for lunch. As skipper, I asked Adam to please resume boat-docking duties, as I am not quite ready to attempt to get the boat onto a dock, especially if a whole bunch of people might be watching. Sadly, the Café / Restaurant only seemed to be open if you rented the entire hotel above it. So, we picked up a few supplies for lunch and decided to continue onward. We could see from that dock that there is a thriving First Nations community living there. If we had more time and a sunny day, we would have explored that area a little more in the dinghy, including the man-made “warm water pool” fed by a local sulphuric spring. From a distance I could see a totem in the inlet with arms palm up, the same as the statues from the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. It looked inviting. But, that visit will have to be another time.
We untied, I resumed my position at the helm and got us off of the dock, then motored us back up Matilda Inlet and headed west. Once we were into Millar Channel, we found ourselves back in range of the World Wide Web, and as skipper I asked Adam to please return to navigation while I resumed my ongoing External Communication task. While I furiously posted blogs we motored through Calmus Passage north of Vargas Island, then into Maurus Channel and Heynen Channel just north of Tofino. We anchored at a spot at the mouth of Lemmens Inlet, near Meares Island.
We can’t come this far and not touch on the politics and the recent history in this part of British Columbia. Clayoquot Sound is familiar to most people because of the 1993 environmental protests and blockades against the BC government’s Clayoquot Land Use Decision, which permitted the logging of 2/3 of the forest in Clayoquot Sound. That includes some precious Old Growth forest. More than 12,000 protesters were involved, including major players such as Greenpeace and Sierra Club. And Australian activist band Midnight Oil (how can we sleep while our beds are burning?). More than 850 people were arrested. Although the area was not logged, the Land Use Decision still stands, and in 2006 new Watershed Plans were approved, putting even more land at risk. But as of 2007, logging in Clayoquot Sound is controlled by First Nations logging companies. Back in 1984, it was the Nuu-chah-nulth (the Hesquiaht, Ahousaht, and Tla-o-qui-aht bands) First Nation who applied for, and had approved, a legal injunction on the logging of Meares Island. Now Meares Island is a Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Park, and all Nuu-chah-nulth have pledged to preserve the island and its water supply, while granting recreational access to all visitors.
Meares Island is, quite simply, stunning. Impossible to put into words. I was tranported to another time and place, wandering through an ancient land, and all of the life that it contains. Wondrous, magical, transcendent, sacred. Beautiful, abundant, joyful, peaceful. And on, and on, and on, and on.
No comments:
Post a Comment