Sail Chandelle

June 26 – July 4, 2023

Sointula & Alert Bay

With thoughts of fresh produce luring our tummies we left Crease Island to head towards civilization.  As we made our way out of Knight Inlet we saw a pod of four Killer Whales, with two young ones, going the opposite direction.  Less than twenty minutes later a huge Humpback spouted once off our port side in Blackfish Sound and then disappeared.  Making our way along the south shore of Malcolm Island entering Cormorant Channel, not even another hour later, we noticed some odd looking activity in the water closer to the shore.  Looking in the binoculars at first I thought it was a few seals playing – but then I realized they were Sea Otters!!  We’d never seen them before and didn’t realize they came this far into the Straits.  A couple other boats had veered that direction to get a closer look but that didn’t feel right to us so we stuck to our path and watching through the binoculars.  What an awesome sea life viewing day!

On our arrival to Sointula, we met a lovely older couple from a large motor yacht we had docked behind.  As former sailors, they were quite inquisitive about our boat and after learning of all our plans were very excited for our future travels as well.  They had just biked into the main area of Sointula, about a mile from the marina, and she was emphatic it is not a “town” as I’d referred to it – I assume she meant because of it’s small size maybe it would be considered a village?  It’s an adorable settlement, whatever you want to call it, and we were simply thrilled for miles of roads to walk and stretch our legs.  Although we also learned the shops were all closed on Mondays – so we’d have to wait one more day for fresh veggies!  

In the meantime as we strolled the main road we stumbled on a tiny town museum, full of history of the settlement of Sointula and Malcolm Island.  Sointula, meaning “place of harmony,” was founded by Finnish immigrants with dreams of creating a communal society where everyone, including women, were equal.  Although various hardships prevented the fullness of this dream coming to fruition – they did manage to create a community on the island where many women lived and worked independently, and in 1909 they formed the Sointula Co-Operative Store Association which is still in operation today making it the oldest running co-op in British Columbia.  The walls of the museum were lined with historic photos, relics of bygone days, old fishing gear and logging equipment, and even a small library of local books.  My favorite exhibit in the museum showcased the work of several women who, to this day, work at repurposing old gill nets into gorgeous rugs.  Gill nets are used in salmon fishing, and while often they are repaired – today it can sometimes be more cost efficient for fishers to simply buy them new.  The nets shown here were various shades of aqua blue, green or turquoise, and painstakingly hand woven in a beautiful design – I asked the steward at the museum about them, and they told me each rug took a couple hundred labor hours to fashion.

From Sointula we took our first BC ferry ride on the Aurora to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island.  The Aurora ferry travels from Alert Bay to Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, and then to Sointula before reversing the same route.  It was a foggy morning ferry ride and as we landed at Alert Bay the day began to warm and the sun burned away the fog.  We found a lovely boardwalk, lining the shore, leading into town in one direction and to the Umista Cultural Center in the other.  The town was rustic and homes lined the street across from the boardwalk.  Many old buildings have been maintained and often come right up to the road, leaving little room for a curb or sidewalk, and the few cars we encountered seem used to sharing the road.

We found the town to be full of pride with many indigenous residents and business owners who were excited to share their heritage with us.  A couple front yards were adorned with totem poles and one front porch was covered in rolls and drapes of drying cedar – presumably for traditional cedar weaving.  The Umista Cultural Center, at the northwest corner of the bay, houses a number of cedar woven baskets, clothing and hats, along with totem poles, tools, and many other items all made from cedar.  The main exhibit was held in a beautiful bare wood sided and high ceiling room supported by tree trunk pillars and crossbeams – similar to how we’ve heard longhouses were built.  Displayed in the room were rows of regalia from long ago local potlatch ceremonies – mostly elaborate masks made of cedar representing many unique cultural traditions.  The potlach ceremonies which are being practiced again today, were outlawed from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s and most of the hand crafted articles were stolen and many natives were jailed.  More than half a century later many artifacts are finally being returned and some are proudly displayed in this museum which serves to tell the stories of the Kwakwaka’wakw tribes.  (No photos were allowed of the main exhibit)

On our walk back towards town we stopped along the road across from an indigenous burial site, with graves marked by huge totem poles.  The site is sacred and the grounds are to be left undisturbed – some of the poles have fallen over and usually the families will leave them as the tradition is to let nature take its course.  I am often moved by these encounters, it can be so beautiful to behold the respect they have for their ancestors as well as for the earth. 

Our friends on SV Tangent had found a spot right behind us in the Sointula marina while we were off on the ferry and we hung out on the dock with them, when we arrived back that evening, and watched a small harbor porpoise swimming between the finger piers.  The next day we borrowed some bikes available at the marina and biked as far as the road was paved and then hiked out a gravel road to Bere Point Park where a trail led from a campground along a pebble beach shore.  The beach of small smooth stones is known to be an Orca rubbing beach.  After walking along the beach for a while we went up into the edge of the trees where a lookout was placed and a large informative sign let us know if we wanted to see whales we should’ve stuck to the trail.  Apparently the whales can hear you walking on the beach from miles away and aren’t likely to show up then.

Port McNeill

A short hop across the channel, our next stop was Port McNeill.  It was smaller than I had imagined and felt especially dwarfed when we arrived with the monstrous M5 sailboat tied up to the long wharf.  We’d seen the giant mast from Malcolm Island and nearing the marina its decks towered over all the other boats and a float plane sat on its back deck.  M5 is the largest single masted sailboat ever built at 77 meters (255 ft) long with an 88.5 meter (290 ft) tall mast.  The port seemed to be the busiest place in town with near constant coming and going of transient pleasure craft and fishing boat traffic.  The busy wharfinger greeted us warmly as we tied up and joked they wouldn’t kick us out unless we tried to throw a bigger party than them – Alex was quick to respond that she’d be our first invite if we tried and we were in.  Everyone we met at the port and in town were just as congenial and we enjoyed a lovely week as we waited for some weather to pass by.  After doing a large provisioning at the grocery store and having a meal out for the first time in weeks, we left the dock and anchored in the large bay for the rest of our time.