ALERT BAY.
Day 304 – It’s hard for us to believe that we’ve been away from home on this trip for ten months as of today. Definitely our longest trip yet. We feel completely at home waking up in the RV; we’re totally used to it. The scenery changes often, there’s always something new, and at times unexpected.
FOGUST. That’s what the locals at Telegraph Cove call August. We’ve heard it several times. Now we know why. It was again very foggy this morning when we got up. We took the ferry out of Port McNeill to Cormorant Island and the First Nations community of Alert Bay. The trip was less than an hour but it remained fogged in and visibility was low.
It was lunchtime before the fog started burning off. We got lunch at Bayside Grill, one of two restaurants in town. We had fish sandwiches; the food was good. There was a cruise ship sitting in the Bay, enveloped in the fog; it made for nice pictures. The town of Alert Bay was small. We had a map with us from the Port McNeill visitor’s center; they had annotated several places we should visit when taking a short trip to the Island: the Cultural Center, the “World’s Tallest Totum Pole”, and the old burial grounds. When we left the restaurant, we encountered a LONG line of cars snaking along the main street. We got in line because it was the only way to reach the Cultural Center. Vehicle after vehicle was stopping at the pier where each was given two large fish, freshly caught and FREE. The great fish giveaway and evidently the whole town came out. I suppose we could’ve gotten some, too, but what would we do with two large whole fish – there’s no room in the RV for that.
We finally got to the Cultural Center and parked. Our ferry returning to Port McNeill would be leaving in less than two hours so we didn’t have enough time to properly tour the Cultural Center. It will be worth another trip if we come back. We were allowed to take pictures inside and outside, but not in the section that housed the Potlatch Collection. Like the First Nations museum we toured in Cape Mudge on Quadra Island, the tribes had worked hard for many years to get their tribal artifacts back from the Government. We felt fortunate to be able to view these ancient and hand-made items, even if we could not photograph them.
MAEDI AND ERNIE – these pictures of tribal masks are for you.
There was a film showing a ceremonial drumming and dance in costume wearing tribal masks and headdresses – it was fascinating. These tribal dances are done once a week on Saturday evenings during July and August; the public can attend (and participate at the end) by making a reservation. When we got back to the RV, we called to see if we could get in to this Saturday’s ceremony. We are leaving here Saturday, but we were willing to change our plans in order to get the chance to attend. The woman from the Tribe said that they were not having the ceremony this Saturday due to the death of a Tribal elder. SO glad we could see that film!
They were still giving away fish when we left the Center. We drove to the World’s Tallest Totem Pole, and it was indeed, the tallest totem pole we’d ever seen.
Lastly, we drove to the First Nations burial ground.
We got in line for the return ferry to Port McNeill. We enjoyed Alert Bay. It’s a whole different environment there.
The high today was 64 degrees. We sat outside before having a snack for dinner. The sun was shining – finally.