The last third of our travels in Gwaii Haanas started with a hot day encouraging us to kayak around the head of Crescent Inlet.

We were stalked by an extremely inquisitive Harbour Seal. Big salmon were jumping and making huge splashes; Woodpeckers could be heard in the second growth forest; Mergansers were swimming away from our bow; pairs of Kingfishers chirruped away whilst flying to their next fishing look out and, in the shallows; we saw masses of life in the form of hermit crabs, small dark crabs, squid, Millipede type worms and an abundance of small fish darting through the Eel grass. Crabbing proved to be a disappointment here although the crab trap imprisoned a juvenile reef shark which had disappeared by the following morning. Stephen has a habit of capturing unusual creatures together with crab in his trap; Halibut, Bat Starfish, Squat lobster and now a shark!

We dined on Stephen’s special marinaded BBQ salmon steaks sharing our fare with Kate and Karl. Whilst having “Happy Hour” we were visited by a cute seal pup who came very close to Amelie, gazing at us with his/her adorable eyes and then submerging under the kayak and RIB showing a spotted, chubby body only to appear on the other side of the boat to look at us longingly. This behaviour went on until we went down for supper in the saloon. Crescent Inlet has been a delight, although quite similar to many other inlets, we have had numerous sightings of bears at high and low water.  Breakfasts in the cockpit were accompanied by Bald Eagles serenading us with their high pitched “squeaky wheelbarrow” tune together with the noisy Ravens. 

Following a visit from an Anna’s Hummingbird we up-anchored and motored 10nm to T’aanuu Llnagaay (Tanu) meaning Eelgrass Town. We found very little information about this Watchman’s site so meeting Walter on the beach was invaluable. Walter was a gentle, softly spoken man with great knowledge and understanding of his heritage. It was an honour to meet him.

8,000 years ago, according to Haida history, there was a great flood which covered the lower areas of Tanu. The villagers fled to higher ground living in caves until the flood water receded, returning to the shore to rebuild their houses. Tanu was a permanent camp and at one stage there were 44 houses standing, ranging from small two-beam to huge six-beam homes. The cedar was transported from other islands in the vicinity and rocks were used to weigh down the roof. The dwellings were built extremely close together to act as a form of defence against marauding invaders. The enemy would raise their weapons above their head due to the limited space, rendering them vulnerable to a counter attack from the residents.

By the late 1880s the smallpox survivors of southern Haida Gwaii were invited to move to Tanu and other northern villages. 95% of the Haida population had been wiped out by smallpox and other European diseases. In the 1885 census, 200 residents were recorded as living in Tanu, by 1892 a 100 of them had died from smallpox, being buried in a mass grave in northern Tanu. During “blowdowns” in winter storms human remains are uplifted amongst the felled tree roots.

Today much of the Tanu village site is in a state of advanced decay. House depressions give an outline of the village; corner posts, roof beams, frontal poles, centre posts and mortuary poles have fallen, now moss covered and decaying or have been removed to University of British Columbia museum. Unfortunately in 1956/57, UBC removed all the standing poles, cut them into sections, crated them and put them into storage……that is where the majority of them are today. Huge root systems of the Alder and Spruce can be seen parasitically using the ancient cedar poles and posts as support and nutrition, enhancing the cedar decay.

At some house sites hollows in the ground have been excavated. Shortly before abandoning the village the survivors buried their stone tools and personal possessions in these pits on the understanding that they would return to their homes in the future. Archaeology digs found 14 empty hollows as heavy looting had occurred.

Walter pointed out a decaying horizontal mortuary pole (manda) which was used to hold the recently deceased in their bent-box, lying in state until their mortuary pole had been carved and erected. The manda was usually a carved figure which was believed to be responsible for carrying the deceased to the afterworld.

We wandered around the outline of the large village using the clam decorated path leading up to a viewpoint overlooking the beach and out to the strait. Here we could see two canoe runs in the pebbles and just beneath the Watchman’s cabin an area in the shallows marked out with rocks as enclosures for Octopus (naaw, meaning devilfish). The Haida lived off the sea for their main protein,  supplementing their diet with bear and extinct Dawson’s Moose meat. A delicacy was Ancient Murrelet, a small seabird. They cultivated Haida potatoes, tobacco and wild crabapples together with picking and storing a huge variety of berries naturally growing in the forest.

Potatoes were introduced to Haida Gwaii between 1800-1820 and by 1830, the Haida were cultivating large quantities. Haida potatoes (sgaawsid) resemble a “Fingerling” potato and were used regularly in their diet with the rest being sold to the mainland people, Hudson Bay Company and fur-trading ships. The Haida potato increased the wealth of the people.

Haida Tobacco (guul) was mentioned in many Haida stories and the first written report was in 1787 by Beresford. The smoke emitted from this tobacco, although highly narcotic, cleansed the house of sickness. In 1850 it was reported that five bundles of Haida Tobacco leaves were traded for a $5 blanket. The Hudson Bay Company bought much of this tobacco until cultivation of this strain ceased over 160 years ago and is now extinct. The sweet chewing tobacco (gul xaw’laa) that followed was prepared by drying the leaves of the imported tobacco plant and mixed with “lime”, this was Abalone shells wrapped in spruce bark, steamed for many hours, crushed and roasted forming a floury lime which was chewed with the flakes of tobacco. Tobacco was used for bribes and as rewards. It was a common gift and trading commodity.

The wild crab apple was a highly important fruit used in feasts for “high class” people and was claimed to be the food of supernatural beings,  a tart fruit which was naturally sweetened during storage by frost.

Licorice Fern grows on the cedar and the roots were used to soothe throat infections, colds and as a mouth sweetener but in large quantities acted as an appetite suppressant.

Stinging Nettles (gudangxaal) were important to the Haida people. The nettle was allowed to grow to a great height, the leaves were used to beat arthritic joints or painful muscles. The fibres of the stalks were spun for twine and made into fishing nets. Today the nettle is still used by the Haida but as tea or making pesto sauce.

The Haida were a strong, fighting nation and to maintain their fitness and strength they were expected to swim everyday regardless of the weather. If an individual refused, he/she was thrown in the sea.

Names were guarded by each clan and if another clan used that name, they were generally shamed.

Walter believes that there are approximately 3,000 pure blooded Haida residing in the world today and up until 1984 Haida law regarding marriage stated that if a Haida man married a white woman she would receive Haida status during the marriage. If a Haida woman married a white man, she would lose her Haida status for good her family could not share anything with her and this is important as the Haida heritage and lineage follows the female line - since 1984 this no longer applies.

We could have listened to Walter all day, he brought the whole village to life again. After our tour we were shown a photograph of Tanu before it was abandoned, with the canoes crowding the shore with a master carver working on one; the various frontal and mortuary poles standing tall and the Haida homes behind them. The place looked as if it was a bustling settlement and now it is a graveyard.

Anna Inlet in Klunkwoi Bay has a very narrow, convoluted entrance with clear water and treacherous reefs before opening up into a small bowl with a drying flat, surrounded by 1,000+ metre summits. It felt as if we were wandering into a beautiful grotto so a stay of several days, to do some exploring, was planned. On the northeast of the inlet is the abandoned settlement of Lockeport, an unsuccessful mining operation that nevertheless lasted from 1907-1988.

Imagine the scene, Debbie as helmsman of fishing vessel “M”; Stephen at the stern with all his fishing paraphernalia attempting to catch a salmon in the pass; instructions were given…..“left a bit, miss the seaweed, avoid the jellyfish, slow down, speed up”!  We spent some time fishing and not a bite. Several hours later Stephen witnessed a Harbour Seal surface with a large salmon in his mouth and a Bald Eagle actively fishing! We’re sure that if the seal could have smiled while his mouth was stuffed full of succulent fish, he would have done.

One of the things that we have observed during our time in the islands is that no matter what the weather or difficulty of access float ‘planes will constantly ferry their passengers to and from the few ecotourist boats that potter around the area. Thick fog, rain and low cloud that occluded our view of the entrance of Anna Inlet did not deter two float ‘planes from landing in the narrow inlet.

The water tank was low, the gale had blown through and Stephen was itching to do some fishing. Once again we slowly made our way along the Hoya Passage to fill up from the hosepipe draining the lake on the eastern side of Moresby Island. No fish but we saw the “red tide” that is described in some of our literature. This phenomenon is when certain species of phytoplankton “bloom” and cause swathes of reddish-coloured water.

We had Hotspring Island and Windy Bay (Watchmen sites) to visit in the following days so we decided to anchor close by in Haswell Bay, just off Juan Perez Sound. We entered on a falling tide, carefully navigating the bay until we entered the inner section. The water was crystal clear and made rock spotting easy, anchoring in a shallow muddy pool. We were surrounded by the magnificent peaks of the San Christoval mountain range. Two days of heavy rain had swollen the creek at the head of the bay and the noise of gushing water was loud. According to our elderly pilot book (circa 1999) there is bear activity on the shore - absolutely no sign of them but we were invaded by the largest mosquitoes we’ve ever seen.

The following morning we woke up to the most amazing vista. We were surrounded at low water with yellow seaweed topped rocks in glorious sunshine - a perfect calm day to visit Hotspring Island.

We anchored in a fair-weather anchorage, Ramsay Passage Cove, an idyllic place with numerous seabirds and approximately 1.5nm from the Watchman site. The weather was favourable so we decided to spend the night there. Kayaking over to the island was tough particularly with a swell from the Hecate Strait but eventually we beached the kayak and were met by David, who we had met at SGaang Gwaii. He kindly gave us two cooked crab to take back home.

Gandll K’in Gwaay.yaay means hot water island and was extremely important to the Haida on two counts - an abundance of food in the form of berries, plants and fish and secondly the hot springs were used as an early version of a spa where the Haida relaxed, soaked and healed their tired, war scarred bodies.

In 2012, Haida Gwaii was hit by an earthquake magnitude 7.7, shifting the fault-line resulting in the cessation of the hot-springs flow. The water flow has returned slowly over the past five years. Walter at Tanu had mentioned that something similar happened in the 1940s and the heated water always returns.

We were relieved that the pools were not plastic tubs but rustically manmade rock-pools, filling with  naturally heated water, that were regularly tended and cleaned by the Watchmen. Once the bushes and plants become more established around the edges of the boardwalk, over the next year or so, the area will return to a more natural look. The hot soak was much needed after the kayaking journey and from the pool we  looked out over the bay towards the mountains. This experience was well worth the blistered thumbs and aching shoulders, maybe not as beautiful as the west coast of Vancouver Island hot-pools but shouldn’t be missed. The three pools were of varying water temperatures. The lower one was still filling but the upper was a comfortable temperature and the first one we came across was too hot to wade in, even the first mate couldn’t stay in it too long. The hotter pool was discovered when the boardwalk was being constructed in the last few years. The boardwalk is interspersed with two warm showers in a traditionally built cabin together with similar smaller buildings for changing rooms. The Watchmen's’ cabin, where we were warmly welcomed, is a replica of a two beam long house, built in traditional fashion. The corner posts were painted, which was not traditional. The skylight was in the position of what would have been a smoke hole for a fire pit. Today solar panels and a diesel generator are used for power with an electric cooker, refrigerator, freezer and a wood burning stove in the corner. The cabin is equipped with a satellite telephone for emergencies and a powerful VHF for communicating generally.

The journey back home didn’t seem as far, arriving just after “Happy Hour”. We ate barbecued salmon and sat in the cockpit until the sun started to dip, watching and listening to the cacophony of calls from the seabirds.

The last Watchman site on our list was Windy Bay on Lyell Island. In the 1980s the Haida community protested against logging in the ancient rainforest. The protests attracted international media attention, highlighting their cause and stopping logging in the area.

Hlk ‘yah GaawGa (Windy Bay) is translated as “temple of nature” due to it’s aged rainforest and the largest and most productive salmon spawning stream in Gwaii Haanas.

Hlk ‘yah Llnagaay (Peregrine Falcon Town) is the site of an ancient Haida village which was famous for its plants and Red-cedar for medicines, clothes, canoes and building materials. Today the Haida continue the ancient tradition of collecting bark by making horizontal cuts in the tree bark, pulling it out and then ripping it upwards. Walking through this protected rainforest some of the trees with areas of stripped bark had self healed themselves by growing lobes out of the trunk curling around the stripped areas. The bark collection does not kill the tree and the fibres and bark strips are valuable to the Haida culture. In SGaang Gwaii  David had shown Debbie the hat that he had made from stripped bark, intricate closely woven patterns with a downward sloping brim to keep out the rain and the sun.

We were met by husband and wife team Shaun and Helen together with their 2 year old, Flora. Helen was our guide for several hours and her knowledge was mind blowing. Dwarfed by the Legacy Pole which stands proud beside the Blinking Eye longhouse for campers and in front of the Watchman’s cabin, encircled by clam shells, Helen unfolded her story.

The Legacy Pole was erected in 2013 celebrating twenty years of co-management of Gwaii Haanas by the Haida nation and Canadian government. The pole was carved by two brothers who are master carvers and the sons of a chief who first had dealings with the federal government in the 1970s. The trunk came from Port Clements and the shape is that of a Frontal Pole, hollowed out to give lightness for transport, as was the practice in the past. This is the first to be commissioned and erected in 150 years, mainly due to the cost. In the past, a master carver would be paid in trade or supported for a period of time. Today such a pole costs approximately $100,000 and was paid for by Canada Parks. The history carved and painted on the pole spans the ancient world and modern day.  At the base, there is a fish representing the ocean floor and at the apex, an eagle representing the mountain tops. Above the fish is a bear, honouring the extinct Haida Brown Bear that roamed these parts around 14,500 years ago. Skeleton evidence has been discovered with stone weapons still embedded in the bones, allowing carbon dating. Alongside were bones of domestic dogs which may have been used to hunt the bears.

Further up the pole are five human figures representing the protestors against the logging operation on the island between 1974 and 1984. Above these, a Raven, the second clan in Haida culture. Next a  supernatural being “Sacred One Standing and Moving”, in Haida mythology this being stands on a copper bent-box and with his staff of Abalone shells he holds up the sky and the stars. A Pine Maarten is depicted as a warning system for earthquakes and Haida believe the noise prior to the quake is the sound of the Maarten running up the pole, to warn of the disaster. Another supernatural being is represented as the Wasco, half Wolf and half Orca, five Watchmen above the Wasco and on the side a small face, celebrating the visitors to Gwaii Haanas.

We were taken for a walk along the forest trail and through streams, taking about 40 minutes. Decent footwear, even wellies are recommended. The forest is a mixture of Red-cedar, Spruce and Hemlock. A tsunami trail runs off the forest path to higher ground.

Hemlock boughs were, and still are, used for collecting herring eggs, a delicacy that is known as  Caviare. The knots on the wood were carved into Halibut hooks with the sticks used for spearing Octopus. The roots were developed into snares.

We came across a gigantic Sitka Spruce which has been dated as 1,000 years old. It is one of the largest in North America and takes ten six foot adults to hold hands to circumference the girth. Helen explained that Spruce pitch was obtained by making a triangular depression in the trunk and the sticky sap used as glue, toothpaste, chewing gum, sun screen, repelling of insects and when mixed with (today) Olive Oil makes an effective salve for skin infections, cuts and splinters. Spruce roots make fine quality baskets which are waterproof. The wood and bark were used for fuel as it had a natural aroma but didn’t taint the food. Spruce cones rubbed over the body prevented body odour. Helen spoke about “Widow Makers” of which we were perplexed. Trees that grow as large as the Spruce have branches that grow to the size of small trees. Deaths have occurred in the logging industry when these “branches” become so heavy that they break off causing injury or death.

Red Alder (kaal) in Haida represents a supernatural woman. The red colour was used as a dye, the wood used for smoking fish, charcoal for tattooing and the bark has antibacterial properties and in the past used for TB cases.

Plants are referred to constantly in Haida traditional stories and legends. The Haida believed that animals, trees, bushes, sticks, stones etc were alive with spirits and they addressed them with special songs specific to the clan with words of gratitude, before, during and after preparation for medicinal use, foods and materials. Plant preparations were used for maintaining good health and had “healing power” properties. They believed that some plants gave protection, power, good luck, love and fertility. Certain families were responsible for procuring, preparing and giving of these ‘medicines’. They were guarded secrets kept amongst members of one family in the village with the traditional gathering of the plants taken on by a person from the opposite moiety of the afflicted person. Today many Haida continue to use plants for medicinal use.

Human beings are not seen as supreme beings by the Haida but as one with nature. Thereby the Haida believed that humans, plants and creatures and even supernatural beings could transform into one another, therefore everything is sacred.

The tide was rising fast and we needed to get back to Amelie so with a kind gift of Venison we paddled to Amelie who was tied up to the mooring buoy in the approach.

We motored away from Windy Bay towards the southern part of Lyell Island, with the intention of anchoring in Beresford Inlet overnight, a long narrow inlet created by a geological fault along its entire length. On a rising tide we navigated cautiously through the narrows with Debbie as a rock spotter on the bow until we reached the head and anchored in the designated anchorage. The clear water opened up an underwater world which was as beautiful as the surrounding area. We launched the kayak and explored the two creeks, one of which was semi occluded by “blow downs” and the other had a small waterfall running over the black volcanic rocks.

We were successful with crabbing here and at low tide we kayaked back to the narrows, where the scenery had completely changed. The seabed was littered with red bat stars and the odd sea urchin although the kelp appeared to be winning the fight for survival. Gliding back on an incoming tide the only noise was the breeze in the swaying trees and the distant echo of the water cascading down the rocks. The journey out of the inlet at high tide was hairier than before with gusts of wind together with eddies knocking us off course towards the rocky shallows. We remained constantly alert and were relieved to leave the inlet unscathed.

Recommendations from several American boats encouraged us to make our way to Kostan Inlet, Moresby Island. Once again we had to transit some shoal narrows at high tide but the inlet was stunningly beautiful. We anchored in the landlocked inner inlet with reflections of the shore in the water, producing optical illusions. Distant noise of tumbling streams remained hidden by the dense forest. When the cloud had dispersed we noticed a repeater on the hill peak, no wonder we were getting excellent VHF reception.

The skipper relies on the three day weather forecasts and is pretty skeptical of anything further ahead. Our time in Gwaii Haanas was coming to a close and we were looking for fair weather to cross the notorious Hecate Strait. Friday was forecast as favourable ahead of gales coming in for the weekend. The decision was made that Friday was our departure day and to get a good start across the Strait we decided to leave Kostan Inlet at high water that evening returning to Ramsay Passage Cove, which was not dependent on high tide for entry or exit.

We feel privileged that we have experienced this spiritual place before many of its relics return to the earth. The Bald Eagles were marvellous, the Bears magnificent and the Orcas - well they’re maligned. The Watchmen were well read, keen to share and celebrate their heritage and culture together with  sharing their food. 

The wildlife we experienced felt in no way contrived and we were so fortunate to stay in their remote, wild habitat. This is not a wildlife park…..it is a wilderness protected by a park boundary.