queen charlottes, the "bad"

One of the main places we wanted to see on the Queen Charlottes is a remote island that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The totem poles were stood up and somewhat restored a number of years ago, although there is some controversy about whether they will continue to be propped up or whether they will be allowed to return to the earth as their creators desired. Anyway, we only committed to go to the islands because a tour operator we were working with assured us their 4-day tour was filling so we could go there. But when we arrived, she announced that it had not filled, but we could go on a 2-day trip that would go some of the other places we wanted to see, and then she had arranged for us to go down there by floatplane. What could we do at that point but accept that? So the trip went well. Then the plane trip was delayed a day, then the night before we were supposed to go, the boat operator who takes you from where the plane could land to where the totem poles are backed out. So no trip. We tried for our remaining few days to get there, but we were never able to. We also missed seeing an area that is supposed to have incredible marine life. We would not have gone if we knew we weren't going to get to see all we wanted to, since we will probably never get back there. So it goes...
Other minor bad inconveniences -- on the way home, we ran into a storm -- lightning all around -- so we decided not to camp. The motel we were in lost its power, but had some emergency back-up. Unfortunately it didn't cover the water pump. So no showers that night. Fortunately the power was on by the next morning... Lots of bugs -- I think I was bit by at least 3 different kinds of creatures. I was itchy.

But the good far outweighed the bad -- it's a place I'd highly recommend.

Queen Charlottes (number 33) -- the good

We made it to the Queen Charlottes! Beautiful islands, I referred to them as "the Northwest on steroids." Big trees, eagles everywhere (we got off the ferry and went for a walk, and counted over 20 in one mud flat. We never saw that many together again, but it was pretty amazing; later, people at a restaurant gave us the guts to some salmon they had and we put them on the beach -- the sound of the ravens and eagles going after them was particularly memorable), deserted beaches, pretty lakes. We went on a two-day tour to some of the old Haida sites, spending the night in a longhouse (built in 1985 to house protesters who objected to logging in some of the more pristine areas -- the protest led to the establishment of the Gwaii Hannas National Park and Heritage Site, jointly administered by the Canada Parks Service and the Haida Nation). Highlights of the tour included spending time in natural hot springs -- one pool was too hot for more than a couple-minute soak; touring Skedans, an old village where the totem poles are gradually being reclaimed by the earth, just as the Haida wanted -- the memorial poles in particular were expected to decompose so the person's soul could be reborn -- it really was a spiritual place; hearing a report that whales and dolphins were 20 minutes away, so rushing out there in our speedy boat, seeing whales (humpbacks, we think,) in the distance, then being surrounded by white-sided dolphins for probably half an hour -- riding the wake, jumping all around. I'm sure there were over 100 of them. It was pretty amazing! We also went to a dinner hosted by a Haida woman and featuring traditional foods. I liked dried "spawn on kelp" -- oolichan [herring, I think] eggs gathered on seaweed where the fish deposited it, but fresh, not so much. And this seafood lover could never complain about salmon, cod, octopus, etc. Yum!
Plus we met so many interesting people, local and tourists. All right, Greg did sit next to a couple of obnoxious yuppies at the dinner, but I got to hear about an English man who decided to sell everything and bicycle around the world, and a couple from Calgary complaining about how oil money is negatively impacting their city. We talked to a number of artists, notably carvers re-learning the traditional Haida crafts. One man saw us taking a picture of one carving and noted that his son had made it. He didn't say he made the one beside it until we turned our cameras to it. We commented on another person working on a canoe, and he insisted it was the community's canoe. I don't think Westerners have the same humility we saw there. Very interesting...