Journey North 5

6.21.23

Tomorrow, I get picked up at Sandspit Airport where Becca the van will sleep for 10 days as I kayak through Gwaii Haanas National Park.

A few months ago, I had sent an email blast to the purveyors of Haida Gwaii for the dates I planned to be on island. Apparently, people book their reservations 6 to 12 months out and my window of arrival is early season, so I was very fortunate when Steve of Ocean Sound Kayaking responded with a cancellation. I purchased my spot same day.

With the rush of life uprooting, I had no bandwidth to review the itenerary beyond “10 days kayaking inj Gwaii Haanas,” nor had I ever sea kayaked before. Weeeeee!

Today, I am leaving my friends house in Skidegate and taking the ferry across to Moresby Island, finding camping near the airport, and staging for my adventure. But first, crabbing!

Jeff teaching me crabby things

Chubbs

Ravens hiding seafood in the yard

Ferry time! 20 minutes to south island, Moresby. Got in on the 11AM instead of the 12PM since they hadn't left yet! Weee!

Stoked! Free spot right around the corner from the airport! Don't worry about the airplane noise, I think there is only 1 flight a day. :)

Packing for a 10 day kayak camping trip out of the van is much more challenging than I had anticipated. Mostly because I am actively using the things I am trying to pack and I know this chaos will result in forgetting some key item. Place your bets!

I have a full system based on bug type for removing bugs from the van. The bee gets the hat swoop scoop protocol.

6.22.23

Launch day!

Within 5 minutes on the zodiac, which was taking our group of 8 guests, 2 guides, and 6 or 8 kayaks to our first camp spot, we saw a pod of orca teaching their your how to kill a seal. Lots of tail slapping and a carcass flying. The latter I unfortunately missed seeing.

View from tent base. There is a crappy moon photo later and it is the moon above the ridge where the sun is in this photo. It waa gorgeous.

Set up shop first then the inaugaural paddle!

I ended up camping on the beach which was nice, but later learned its best to try to camp near home base, to minimize hauling stuff back and forth. Also, I like being able to flatten my own spot on the rocks, in this case I had to also clear abalone and moonsnail shells from otters and birds noming down here.

Sea Kayaking feels surprisingly foreign.... 😬

2AM Moon

6.23.23

Parking spot with Coast Guard waiting their turn. They are not legally allowed to turn their engines off when 'active'.

I get sun blisters when I forget to put sunblock on so you will get imperfect selfies for the duration of this trip. I do not feel like editing. 😜

Insane water clarity

Insane water color

The Watchmen are Haida people (men and women) that live at the Watchmen sites for extended periods of time. The sites are located throughout the Gwaii Haanas islands. The Watchmen are there to educate about Haida history (walking tours, stories, conversation) and about local nature, and to help ensure laws are abided.

What is left of the original Haida village of this island, which I think is called Tanu.

Having the large basement area was a great sign of wealth.

The siding was made of removeable slats that they would take with them when they travelled to other areas for extended periods of time, so they would minimize their impact on the forests. It was also hard work to make the slats.

A couple of the men that came ashore from the Coast Guard ship were laughing at me as I did a backward launch for my kayak using the scuttle backwards until paddle free technique 🙃

I see that my towel is out. Must have taken a dip in the ocean. Which would be the beginning of the Bathing Beauties. A couple of women and I were taking almost daily dips in the rivers and ocean on this trip. 🙂

To the left

To the right