Father's Day Family Camp Part 2 June 17-20

Tuesday morning woke up to sunny skies again. Not supposed to rain until tonight. The island sure needs the rain as it is very dry even as far north as we currently are. Today we are all going into Port Hardy for breakfast and then the rest of the crew are going golfing. Ray and I will meander around and then come home. Ray needs a down day after our long day yesterday.

We all loaded up at 9am and headed to the Market Cafe downtown Port Hardy. Wow what a breakfast. All homemade. Jason, Dale and Kristi headed out after breakfast to go golfing and Ray, Nadine and I meandered down the harbour and Rotary Park.  We bought a fresh loaf of bread just out of the oven.  They are so huge it needed two brown bags taped together to fit it.  They through in two containers of home made apricot jam.   Yummmm!

Here is a picture of the street by the Rotary Park.

Downtown Port Hardy

 At the end of a street is where the Coast Guard ties up. You can see the Port Hardy to Prince Rupert Ferry on the other side.

 We jumped back in the car and drove around town and finally ended up at the marina.

The hotel and pub.

We were back home by 11:30 am. Time for me to prepare for dinner as it's my turn. Nadine spent the afternoon using our car to ferry herself back and forth to do her laundry.  Ray sat and massaged his pictures, in between walking all three dogs. On and off heavy cloud with sunny breaks. All in all not a bad afternoon.

I spent the afternoon preparing and cooking our ribs for dinner. Added with fresh corn on the cob, cabbage rolls that I had made previously and reheated.  We all had tons to eat again.

Our friends Delle Booth and Chris Jenkins arrived from Squamish on their holidays on the island. We visited an hour while I was cooking dinner. They declined having dinner with us all as they wanted to set up their camper for the night.

After dinner, the wind came up and it was quite cold, so we all piled into Kristi and Jason's bug tent for the rest of the evening with their propane campfire. All snug and warm. When the wind died down the boys went back out to the fire but the three of us girls were quite content to stay where we were. lol

We headed back to the motorhome about 9:30pm. Another great day.

Wednesday morning started out cloudy with sunny periods but the expected showers soon started. Mostly on rather than off. lol Everyone hunkered down in the their own units to relax. Delle and Chris stopped by for a visit and we will be seeing them at dinner at the Bistro tonight. Otherwise everyone stayed in their own rigs for the day.

We all walked over to the Bistro at 6 and spent 2 wonderful hours chatting and eating.  Awesome place to dine.  Everything was spot on.

Chris, Delle, Nadine, Kristi, Jason, Dale, Deb and Ray

Ray's trout

I ordered the special, osso bucco. Yumm.

Back at the campsite, Jason light the campfire and we sat around if for a couple of hours. Ray took a walk about with his camera as the skies had cleared, but there were enough for a great sunset. I came in at 10 pm and Ray followed at about 10:45 pm. A great day.

The beach

 Looking across the water at Malcolm Island and the Pulteney Point lighthouse.

Pulteney Point lighthouse

Cluxewe Estuary

Cluxewe Estuary

Trail through beautiful second-growth at the campsite.

 There are lots of broken clam shells on the rock beach. At low tide there is a sand beach, which is an old native clam bed, according to our friend Dan Hillert.

The Estuary

The Spit

Dale and Nadine taking their pics of the sunset.

It has been really windy here the last few days so we are happy we are in the more protected estuary sites. The people on the waterfront have all hunkered down inside their units or hiding behind hedges to sit outside.

View from our front window. Lots of room for large rigs. There is only 1km of a well graded gravel road to get to the campsite off the highway. There is 30 amp power, water and sewer for $30/night on this side of the campsite.

Thursday morning it was cloudy and a little breezy. The sun is supposed to come out later this morning so it will be a great day for Ray and I to take the ferry over to Alert Bay for a walk about. We set out at 11 am with Kristi to catch the 11:35am ferry from Port McNeill. Unfortunately it was 1/2 hour behind so we did not leave until after 12 noon.  Here are some views from the ferry.

Sointula in the background

South end of Port McNeill

Alert Bay

By the time we arrived the sun came out and, although windy, it was a beautiful day.

Welcome to Alert Bay, "Home of the Killer Whale". This "Ngmgis Welcome Archway" is located near the BC Ferry Terminal and was carved by Chief Doug Cranmer in the early 1970's. Relocated summer 2000 from Port Hardy when gifted by Finning Tractor to the Ngmgis First Nation.

We first walked to the Visitor's Centre and picked up the maps, etc. First stop was the original old Namgis cemetery with the totem's.

In the picture below, the totem pole on the far left, the Haida Mortuary Panel-Raven, was raised in 2008 to honour the memory of approximately 300 Haida who were quarantined to Bones Bay in their Kwakwaka' wakw Territory around 1862 and never made it home due to small pox.  The far right one is the Giant Halibut-Man carved in 1995. The large one with the fan top is a memorial pole for Peter and Alice Smith and Lorne Smith unveiled at the Marcus Alfred Potlatch, November 22, 2014 so a relatively new pole.  This is the old burial grounds, so most are memorial poles.

The above pole with the thunderbird on the right in conjunction with the fish were commissioned to commemorate the opening of the new road in front of the original 'Namgis Burial Grounds. It was the ending of the land claims issue the "Namgis First Nation had with the Department of Highways and the Province. The Totem Poles were also to honour the people buried beneath the road.

Next up was lunch at the "Pass N Thyme Inn". A great view and all three of us had their delicious halibut and chips.

After full bellies it was time to walk the boardwalk down the harbour to the Cultural Centre.

Christ Church - Anglican. So as to secure a permanent workforce on the Island, saltery founders Spencer and Huson persuaded the Reverend James Hall to relocate his newly established mission from Fort Rupert to Alert Bay. By 1878, the construction of mission house was complete and held it's first service Christmas Day 1892.

 They have several of these viewpoint areas along the boardwalk with carvings.

Below the ABC Wharf from 1949. This building was formerly a company store for the net loft owned by the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company. It is now owned by the 'Namgis First Nation and used as a net loft for its band members.

Downtown Alert Bay

The house below was formally the Courthouse constructed in 1923. It was designed for the BC Provincial Police, complete with living quarter, office and lock-up. Now it is a privately owned residence.

Above is Nimpkish Hotel built in 1920, originally built on 'Namgis First Nation land and were denied a license to operate a beer parlour and hotel. The original owner, Moses Alfred, sold his share of the business and the hotel was moved by barge to its current location so they could obtain the license.

The net loft again from shore.

This is a family memorial pole, Raven, Whale, Ancestor Yolakwame (man with spear) and unveiled Sept 2, 2012.

The walk along the boardwalk took us to the U'mista Cultural Centre. They have lots of artifacts on display from their potlatches.  Most pieces were confiscated by the government who outlawed potlatches, insisted on by the Christian missionaries, as they attempted to destroy the native culture.  The artifacts were returned, most from museums and many from private collections.

An old, creepy residential school was torn down in 2015.  Originally built in 1929, it was one of the last schools to close in the early 1970's.  Up to 200 students at a time weren't allowed to see their parents for up to four years, banned from speaking their language, and taught "white man" academic studies and skills.  What a dark dark stain on Canada's history!

These two Guardian Poles-Nalamal and Nan(Bear) are located at the entrance of the U'mista Cultural Centre unveiled August 5, 2014. "These Guardian Poles are our messengers who will share this message of Maya'xala (respect for yourself, others and the world around you.)"

Above and below are carved wood panels, here are two of the four.

Inside the cultural centre. They had quite a lot of carvings for sale as well as jewelry and clothing.

This is their version of a sea monster.

Poles around the cultural centre.

This memorial pole is of a Thunderbird, Killer Whale, Wolf, Huxhux, Ancestor, Bear and Raven.Completed November 10, 2017

This is the view of the bay from the Cultural Centre.

Oldest house left standing in Alert Bay.  In earlier times, he shore was completely lined by this type of home.

Too bad we didn't go the next day as it's Aboriginal Day.  All residents are encouraged to come out in their full regalia and a huge BBQ is offered.  We walked back to the ferry terminal to catch the 3:15pm ferry back but of course now it was 45 minutes behind schedule and we found out why ....

This piece of equipment took nearly 10 minutes to load so of course it took that much time or more getting to the island this morning. Apparently the ferry had been late for every run since this morning.

No seat for this guy ... stand up only piece of equipment.

The island obviously had some paving done as there were also a couple of pickup trucks with a company logo and a big dump truck that also was loaded with this. A lovely outing again. Back at the campsite, it was Nadine and Dale's turn to cook dinner. Barbecued pork loin and fried rice. Wonderful. We were fortunately again that the wind died down and we had a lovely time around the campfire for the rest of the evening.