Orcas and Hot Springs

September 4 Johnstone Strait
This morning we set out to find orcas, and find orcas we did. And Pacific Whiteside porpoises and harbour porpoises and seals ... The easiest way to find out where thewildlife might be is to listen to what we call "The Whale Channel," a VHF radio station used locally by both whale-watching tour guides and researchers to locate and identify cetaceans and other wildlife. There are pods of 'resident' orcas on the Johnstone Strait that have been observed and studied for years. The tour operators can identify the different family groups by their distinctive markings and calls. We drifted among several different family groups of orcas for hours. We watched one group of seven whales as they passed us and we passed them during the course of the afternoon, and after a while we could easily pick them out by the dorsal fin of the largest male which had a very definite split at the top. We carefully avoided approaching too closely or getting in their way at all, but observing them as they traveled, hunted, fed and gamboled about showed me a side of these huge creatures that translates as very caring, loving and playful. They swim close to each other most of the time, always touching, nudging, speeding up and slowing down together, diving and blowing synchronously. Even when they separate for a little while, their reunions are celebrations of bumping and rubbing sides. Periodically one or another would dive down a bit and then pop up with its head straight up out of the water in order to look around, sometimes so high we could see their pectoral fins above the water. This is called 'spy-hopping.' We could hear their vocalizations at times. One call sounded just like they were giving us Bronx Cheer.

September 1 Echo Bay
Our sailing adventure is in its final stages for this year. This week we started heading south in earnest. Before we left the Broughton Archipelago we enjoyed one last Pig Roast at Pierre's at Echo Bay with lots of boating friends. Pat caught a gorgeous 16-pound coho salmon. We plan to enjoy several dinners along with friends thanks to this fish! We spent several very wet days at Echo Bay, visiting Billy Proctor and his wonderful museum and trying to stay dry. I had a chance to spend some time with Billy and he told some wonderful stories about different items in his collection. I brought him some of the artifacts I have found in the past few summers and he told me about what they were. I learned a great deal about the copper bracelets I had found, and also about stone and bone tools. The day after my visit to Billy's Museum I searched a nearby midden beach and made what is possibly my best find ever: a chert adze blade or chisel in near-perfect condition. A few days later I found a black flint projectile point. I have also found Hudson Bay trade goods such as fire strikers and flints, early fish hooks and other relics from the fur trade era.

August 14 Eucott Bay Hot Springs
After we left Ocean Falls we continued north up Dean Channel to find the place where Alexander Mackenzie (a distant relation?) ended his historic trek across Canada in 1793, 12 years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was seeking a trade route to the Pacific Northwest. At the last stage of his journey, his local guides from the Bella Bella tribe took him as far as this point, where he marked the terminus of his journey on a prominent rock with the words, "Alex Mackenzie from Canada by land, 22nd July, 1793." Seeing the words that he wrote in vermilion-stained grease (later carved in to the rock) we felt very close to Mackenzie. And having hacked our way through the vegetation around here, we have tremendous respect for his journey.

It may never known if Mackenzie made it to Eucott Bay and its natural hot spring, just a few miles away. We certainly did, and after scrambling up the slippery rocks and a rather uncertain-looking hand-made stick ladder to the rock pool, we enjoyed the steaming hot bath immensely. We had the entire bay to ourselves as we soaked and marvelled at the view of snow-tipped mountains across the bay. In this picture you can just barely see 'Tenacious' anchored in the distance.