The Fjords of British Columbia
Memories of a kindly day in Kynoch:
Black light penetrating from the east, breaking through the barrier of night, a glow in the early sky.
Passing Carter Bay, an insignificant indentation in a tortuous coastline, but meaningful to English descendants who lost a young able seaman here two centuries ago. Crewmen on Captain George Vancouver’s ship Discovery ate breakfast mussels here…bivalves laden with red tide, or paralytic shellfish poisoning. A body laid to rest; a bay named in his honour.
A hollow howl of a wolf, heard by early risers searching from the decks; where is hidden this lupine voice in the wilderness?
A glassy anchorage near a grassy estuary grown from bed-loads carried by swift stream-flow.
The silence of kayaks snaking through crystal waters…uphill as we fight a tidal outflow, then thrusting into a serene cove; eagles perched, then flying.
Trudging through soft silt and salty grass, following tracks of bears, wolves, eagles, gulls; aiming for a river of pure water flowing down from carved cirques and domed mountains; winter’s snow has melted, new snow will soon follow.
Salmon - a river of salmon big and small - here to end a short life; each spending its biological energy on gametes, hooked teeth and holding a prime position; fighting, digging, abrading, dying. Mosses, mushrooms, midges and mice will flourish.
A black bear…a new mother with two cubs born in a safe den in the cold of winter...meandering the beach in search of morsels to sustain them through yet another winter rest.
Our repast in the sun and breeze of the deck as we exit this untouched wilderness; passing magnificent waterfalls, towering granite, a soaring golden eagle and high mountain goats.
Ancient art and culture – the deep meanings of the original peoples of this mysterious coast.
A new resident - a baby humpback whale - probably never before photographed; breathing and feeding with mother; a species now returning to twisted waters from which it was extirpated a century ago. What name shall this little giant receive?
Memories of a kindly day in Kynoch:
Black light penetrating from the east, breaking through the barrier of night, a glow in the early sky.
Passing Carter Bay, an insignificant indentation in a tortuous coastline, but meaningful to English descendants who lost a young able seaman here two centuries ago. Crewmen on Captain George Vancouver’s ship Discovery ate breakfast mussels here…bivalves laden with red tide, or paralytic shellfish poisoning. A body laid to rest; a bay named in his honour.
A hollow howl of a wolf, heard by early risers searching from the decks; where is hidden this lupine voice in the wilderness?
A glassy anchorage near a grassy estuary grown from bed-loads carried by swift stream-flow.
The silence of kayaks snaking through crystal waters…uphill as we fight a tidal outflow, then thrusting into a serene cove; eagles perched, then flying.
Trudging through soft silt and salty grass, following tracks of bears, wolves, eagles, gulls; aiming for a river of pure water flowing down from carved cirques and domed mountains; winter’s snow has melted, new snow will soon follow.
Salmon - a river of salmon big and small - here to end a short life; each spending its biological energy on gametes, hooked teeth and holding a prime position; fighting, digging, abrading, dying. Mosses, mushrooms, midges and mice will flourish.
A black bear…a new mother with two cubs born in a safe den in the cold of winter...meandering the beach in search of morsels to sustain them through yet another winter rest.
Our repast in the sun and breeze of the deck as we exit this untouched wilderness; passing magnificent waterfalls, towering granite, a soaring golden eagle and high mountain goats.
Ancient art and culture – the deep meanings of the original peoples of this mysterious coast.
A new resident - a baby humpback whale - probably never before photographed; breathing and feeding with mother; a species now returning to twisted waters from which it was extirpated a century ago. What name shall this little giant receive?
