Johnstone Strait & Alert Bay
Jupiter and Venus shone brightly in the starry sky that illuminated our passage through Seymour Narrows early this morning. With the full moon’s gravitational forces pulling on the ocean waters, the recent tides have been high and the currents fast and strong. Max flood at the narrows today was over 13 knots!
Cloudy skies gave way to blue and the brisk fall breezes soon turned into a warm late summer’s day. Cruising conditions were near perfect and we spent a leisurely morning in British Columbia’s Inside Passage watching seabirds, harbor seals and passing islands, as well as a talk in preparation for our afternoon.
Once ashore in the island village of Alert Bay we were welcomed as warmly as old friends. After a stroll down the waterfront we gathered at the U’mista Cultural Center to learn about and marvel at the art, the stories and the history of these remarkable and resilient people of the northwest coast. In December of 1922, a potlatch (the traditional winter gathering for dances and giveaway of the Kwakwaka’wakw people) hosted by chief Dan Cranmer on Village Island was raided, the participants arrested, and their regalia taken and sold to museums by government officials. The Potlatch Collection housed in the traditional cedar house at U’mista is the repatriated regalia from that infamous ceremony. U’mista means ransom and the building of the museum to house the artifacts was the ransom paid by the local first nations band.
Our group next met a few blocks up the hill at the beautifully painted and carved western redcedar bighouse where local families host their potlatches today. The cultural group from the local school performed several of their inherited dances in intricately crafted dance regalia. As we left the dance floor after the last play dance, we were offered a taste of delicious fry bread with homemade jam and barbecued fresh sockeye salmon. We drifted happily back to the ship, wrapped in the warmth of small town hospitality and the mystery of connecting with a culture previously unknown to us.
Jupiter and Venus shone brightly in the starry sky that illuminated our passage through Seymour Narrows early this morning. With the full moon’s gravitational forces pulling on the ocean waters, the recent tides have been high and the currents fast and strong. Max flood at the narrows today was over 13 knots!
Cloudy skies gave way to blue and the brisk fall breezes soon turned into a warm late summer’s day. Cruising conditions were near perfect and we spent a leisurely morning in British Columbia’s Inside Passage watching seabirds, harbor seals and passing islands, as well as a talk in preparation for our afternoon.
Once ashore in the island village of Alert Bay we were welcomed as warmly as old friends. After a stroll down the waterfront we gathered at the U’mista Cultural Center to learn about and marvel at the art, the stories and the history of these remarkable and resilient people of the northwest coast. In December of 1922, a potlatch (the traditional winter gathering for dances and giveaway of the Kwakwaka’wakw people) hosted by chief Dan Cranmer on Village Island was raided, the participants arrested, and their regalia taken and sold to museums by government officials. The Potlatch Collection housed in the traditional cedar house at U’mista is the repatriated regalia from that infamous ceremony. U’mista means ransom and the building of the museum to house the artifacts was the ransom paid by the local first nations band.
Our group next met a few blocks up the hill at the beautifully painted and carved western redcedar bighouse where local families host their potlatches today. The cultural group from the local school performed several of their inherited dances in intricately crafted dance regalia. As we left the dance floor after the last play dance, we were offered a taste of delicious fry bread with homemade jam and barbecued fresh sockeye salmon. We drifted happily back to the ship, wrapped in the warmth of small town hospitality and the mystery of connecting with a culture previously unknown to us.
