Queen Charlotte Islands

dkoyanagi

Here are my photos from my trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Here's a map of the islands.

I went with my dad, my sister, and her husband. My dad's friend Bert flew in from Toronto to join us.

Day 1


Our little 30 seat Scare Canada plane to Sandspit, QCI.

Two hour flight from Vancouver to Sandspit airport. Picked up our rental car and headed to Queen Charlotte City.


Rustic accomodations...


... but with a really nice view.

We checked into our B&B and had a look around. We walked along the shore



and headed down to the wharf to meet our salmon guide.



Day 2
Up at 5am the next day to go salmon fishing with my dad and Bert. We got to the wharf at 7am to meet our guide, Vern. Left the 5D and lenses with my brother-in-law, Fraser, and took the little P&S with me out on the boat.



Got a shot of downtown Queen Charlotte City on the way out. QCC is a working fishing and logging village, not really set up for tourism. There's one motel, a handful of B&Bs and three restaurants. All three restaurants close at 8:00 pm.




View from the boat, when I wasn't leaning over the side.

The water was glass smooth in the shelter of the straight. But once we got into open water we ran into 2-3' chop. My dad and Bert were fine, but I do not travel well on water at all. I spent the next 8 hours feeding the fishes, so to speak. Dad and Bert had fun. They landed three salmon that day, the smallest was a 15 pounder. But you shoulda seen the one that got away.

More to follow...

swintonphoto

Looks like a lovely place. I especially like the colors you captured in the wharf and shoreline images. Really nice warmth to them.

dkoyanagi

swintonphoto wrote:

Looks like a lovely place. I especially like the colors you captured in the wharf and shoreline images. Really nice warmth to them.

Thanks Johnathan. That color is thanks to the blue&gold filter I was using.

Ann McRae

dkoyanagi wrote:

That color is thanks to the blue&gold filter I was using.

Hmmm, blue and gold filter you say.... The wharf shot is really lovely, Dan.

We had 3m swell in Tofino and the dh survived (although others were less healthy for it) - always uses sea sickness as a reason not to do things, so guess that means his excuse is up!

Waiting for more!

ann

dkoyanagi

Ann McRae wrote:

Hmmm, blue and gold filter you say....

Yep, the Singh-Ray blue and gold polarizer. I really like it.

spechtal

Wow Dan,
I am envious...I've always wanted to go to there...guess I will have to start making plans.

I love the shoreline walk photo and the fishing boats. Very lovely

dkoyanagi

Day 3

When I woke up the next day the ground was still swaying. I was only booked to go fishing the first day, and that was more than enough. This was the view out my front door:



My dad and Bert went back out on the saltchuck. I went with my sister Karen and Fraser to the Haida Heritage Center in the village of Skidegate. It's a museum and cultural center built by the Haida, who have lived on these islands for thousands of years. The Haida also invented the Northwest coast totem pole and the Northwest coast style of art. Although the art has spread up and down the coast from Alaska to Washington, the Haida style is considered the most refined.

The center is built as a series of Haida style longhouses.





We joined a tour that was led by a Haida man from the Eagle clan. He was fairly young, probably in his early thirties, and he was very knowledgeble about Haida history and culture. He showed us around the center and the various totem poles and explained their symbolism. Most of our group were British Columbians, so he didn't have to start his explanation from zero. The group was also asking some pretty good questions, and he provided some very interesting answers. We later found out that he was the center's operations manager. It sure beat the heck out of getting a tour from some graduate student at a university museum.

The center also has a woodshop where members practice their woodworking skills.



We got a chance to be a small part of one of their projects. They need to flip over a canoe they were building so that they could work on the keel. About ten of us from the group, plus about five carvers went over to the unfinished canoe and rolled it over. Like everything else the Haida build, their canoes are massive. Here are a couple of finished canoes.



Each canoe is carved in one piece from a single cedar log. In 1986 the canoe on the left crossed the Hecate Straight from Prince Rupert on the mainland to Skidegate in 14 hours. A ferry does the same run in eight hours.

Paddles. You can tell they're not just for show:



More to follow...

summerz

Looks like fun, looking forward to seeing more.:D
Some beautiful shots there.

dkoyanagi

Thanks Angela and Summerz!

dkoyanagi

Day 4

I was scheduled to spend the next four days at a float camp, with daily zodiac excursions around the islands. However, after the first day's experience on the water, I decided that four days on a bobbing zodiac would probably kill me. I canceled the excursion and decided to turn the rest of my time on the island into a road trip. I was kinda disappointed because the excursion would have taken us to some abandoned Haida villages and some great photo ops. I was expecting to lose the entire fee that I paid in advance, but they provided a 50% refund. However, the cost of accommodations and rental car for the four days came out to about the same so it was a wash in the end.

Dad and Bert went back out for the third time, while Karen and Fraser went on the excursion. I took the car and headed north. I went for a hike in the woods.









Day 5

Hiked out to the Pesuta wreck. The Pesuta was a log carrier that ran aground in 1928. It was a good two hour hike from the parking lot out to the wreck. I got there around noon and shot for about half an hour. It was a good thing I got out there early. On the way back I passed a gaggle of school kids on their way out to the wreck.







Although it's hard to tell from the photo, the wreck was about 15' high.

More to follow...

dkoyanagi

Day 6 - 9

Photos from the rest of the trip.


Eagles playing near the village of Old Masset.



Abandoned works at Queen Charlotte City



On the beach, near the town of Sandspit



Sandspit



Sandspit



Near Prince Rupert, British Columbia Inside Passage



Light station at Boat Bluff, BC Inside Passage



Aboard the ferry, BC Inside Passage

That is all.

GSPeP

Great pictures of a great region

Last time did the "inside passage" in '89. We have a lot of slides of it (and of our vacation in BC and Alberta), but would like to go back one time to take some new pictures.