Several years ago I had the thrill of visiting the Galápagos Islands. On my return I the heard the phrase Galapagos of the North used to describe an archipelago of 150 islands known as the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of BC. Today these islands have returned to the name of their people, known as Haida Gwaii.
After a fairly uneventful flight we arrived at the airport in Sandspit on Friday. Of course the plane was late which was really annoying since we sat an extra hour in the Vancouver airport looking at the plane we had just come in sit at our gate and knowing it would be the same plane we were flying out on again. The good news - they had little opportunity to lose our luggage! After landing we needed to catch a ferry over to Dajjing Giids, formerly known as Queen Charlotte City.
We arrived late and dinner became a challenge - there are few restaurants and most were very full. So our plan to dine at the lovely Blacktail was scraped and off we went for Chineses food.
Saturday was our first day to explore this magical area. We were at the dock for our 9 am departure in a lovely covered boat.We were treated to a great day with Captain Glen, who cooked up a mean lunch including fresh halibut! We also had a great young guide. Rowan was so informative and clearly proud of his heritage. We really hope we get them for the next trip.
We passed by the beautiful Haida Heritage Centre which we will see later, spotted a majestic eagle and continued to our destinations - 2 abandoned Haida villages - K’uuna Llnagaay and T’aanuu Llnagaay. Totem poles were important to the Haida but today only a few remain on site and they are in varying stages of deterioration. The Haida lived in long houses and the evidence of these homes can be found in both villages.
The sites were so different. After leaving the beach at K’uuna, we explored the paths around the long homes. When the village was alive and vibrant, there were no trees but the area today is overgrowth with beautiful old trees among the remaining poles.
Moving over to T’aanuu was like visiting a different world. Everything was covered in a green carpet of moss, giving it a very enchanted look. And again we saw the evidence of the holes that were dug to build the long homes on and more totem poles with their green moss covering.
And then it was time to make the journey home for the evening. The seals were enjoying the late afternoon sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment