July 16th to 17th Crab Islands to Shearwater and Bella Bella

July 16^th to 17^th Crab Islands to Shearwater and Bella Bella

Cabin fever has set in so we travel all day in the rain for a change of scenery.  We end up at Crab Islands and do harvest crab.  It is a lovely little spot.  Since we are still in foggy rainy weather we dine inside B Mondo and enjoy another warm dessert.  We teach Walt and Odile how to play Pinochle, a game played by Pam’s family for decades.  Pam and Walt wamp on Carl and Odile twice with “double pinochle Walt” carrying the heavy load. 

Given our short jump to Shearwater we sleep in and depart around nine.  Pam cooks three pots of crab enroute. 

We pull into Shearwater and decide to stay the night to catch up on a variety of ‘town’ tasks.  We each fill with diesel and then tie up at the log/barge breakwater and continue to wait a slip that the harbour master assures us is coming.  Having not heard from the harbour master yet getting very hungry we dinghy ashore to partake of the mouth watering cheese burgers at the local pub that Walt and Odile have been telling us about.  Sure enough, just as we bite into our burgers we get the call from Christophe (harbour master) to let us know our slip is available.  He is fine with us finishing up our burgers.

We dinghy back to the breakwater, tie up and B Mondo rafts to our side, leaving an extra slip for another boat.  What a busy place!  As we approach the dock Pam hands off one line to a youngster (maybe 12 years old?).  She lets them know the boat is heavy.  Since ExTerra is blown off of the dock Pam has to toss the other line to a brother perhaps, maybe 10 or 11!  Each of the lads brace against the 4x6 bulwark and commence hauling ExTerra safely to the dock.  They did an excellent job and tie us up more professionally than most adults we have handed lines to.  We see the lads later whizzing by in their small sailboat, expertly healing and tacking through the narrow waterway.  Pam enquires of Christophe about the young lads, noting that they handled our 9 ton boat quite well.  He said “That is no surprise.  They have been round the world in the family’s 20 ton boat!”   

We cycle ourselves and our clothes through associated washing machines, stock up on a few groceries and paper charts and dive into a crab dinner. 

The next morning Pam, Carl and Odile take the local water taxi over to New Bella Bella, the community home of the Heiltsuk people.  While walking through town we see numerous totem poles with watchful raven overseeing the streets.  We venture into the elder center (Waglisla Senior Centre) to enjoy some of the local artwork.  The building is simple yet beautiful with a lot of cedar woodwork.   

Continuing our walk about we come to the K-12 school, another fine example of woodwork and art.  The striking, unique edifice is cedar shakes formed as an eagle with an ornate sign on the side wall.  While we are admiring the totem pole on the side of the school a local man approaches us.  He has a story he wants to tell us.  

The totem pole he says was made by one of their local people.  The carver said that the pole would fall down.  All poles do yet this one seemed to fall too soon.  Our story teller tells us that he was there that day with a backhoe hoping to hold the pole in place yet it fell anyway and they stood it back up and braced it on each side.  “Poles are not supposed to be stood back up.  It is bad luck.  They are supposed to return to the earth.”  

We talk with him awhile longer.  He tells us where to fish.  We ask about the “Stewart spill” that we had read about.  He says “it has changed us, maybe forever with the loss of our clam beds.”  What little we read indicates that the fuel spill in 2016 took out some of the native gathering grounds for mussel and clams.  The beautiful “Laias Garden” near the dock is a healing garden to help people heal after the spill by sharing fresh produce from the garden.  

We leave him to continue his walk and we continue ours.  We notice two beautiful native canoes in a small cedar sided building.  It is the “Qatuwas Gathering House,” a small information center recently started that focuses on the culture, science and history of the Heiltsuk First Nations.  The head curator is a very lively, well spoken young lady who is excited about what they are doing and plan to do to promote their area.  They will have walking tours of Bella Bella and tours to the original sites where people moved from after the smallpox epidemic of the 1860’s wiped out 85% of their population.  They feature the “Glwa”, a traditional dugout canoe in their display.  It was carved for and paddled to the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication. 

They host numerous “Tribal Journeys” where families paddle their canoes all over the British Columbia seaways and as far south as Quinault, WA.  Student interns serve as staff.  Natalia is a junior in the K-12 school.  Cila just graduated and will go to college in Nanaimo combining art and pre-law, her goal to return to her community and continue to promote their people and their way of life.  She said she left one other time.  Upon her return she realized how special their way of life and the land where they live truly is.  We feel that this group is off to a great start for their cultural center and wish them luck. 

Now it is time to head for the grocery store.  We confirm that this store has a lot more to offer than the store at Shearwater.  This one feeds a community and the other one caters to boaters, both are needed yet represent such a vastly different group of people.

We head back to our water taxi after stocking up on groceries and fresh, homemade fry bread and sandwiches on wonderful fresh buns.  We note and mention to a few people the great sense of pride that we have seen during our walk through their community.