Alert Bay, British Columbia
By the time the first guests came on deck this morning, we were sailing northwards on Johnson Strait opposite McMullen Point, with the forested slopes of Vancouver Island on portside, and Sonora Island to starboard. A brisk, cool northwesterly roughened up the surface of the channel into dark, choppy waves, crested with angry whitecaps. The sun, still hidden behind the eastern mountains, cast a wonderfully alluring pink glow onto the distant snow-clad peaks of the Island Range. As the morning unfolded, the sun abandoned us, and the wind blew cold and blustery, making relaxing in the lounge a very appealing alternative to being on deck. However, the landscape also rewarded us with a new grim beauty of immense stretches of water, islands of rock and dark green forests. The strip of temperate rainforest, from Oregon to Alaska, dissected and fragmented by fjords and channels, forms one of the most beautiful, convoluted shorelines in the world. This wondrous land is enhanced by an accident of geography; a collision of ocean currents and the fractured landscape has resulted in one of the most productive ecosystems. It was therefore not surprising that we experienced a morning with some great wildlife sightings, bringing most of us out of the comfort of the lounge and onto deck. Twice we spotted a black bear on the shore, poking around, looking for some edible bit of hapless marine life, and many sightings of eagles, loons, scoters, auklets, murres and other birds delighted us. But the highlight of the morning was our coming upon a minke whale (a first for most of us!), which swam past on a steady southward course, giving us a good view of its smooth back and small dorsal fin.
During lunch, the Sea Lion docked at Alert Bay, and we had the whole afternoon at this delightful native town on Cormorant Island. We were given the difficult choice between hiking a forest and muskeg trail, or indulging ourselves with the exquisite displays of the U'mista Cultural Centre and the dance performance at the bighouse. In the end, thanks to an efficient shuttle service, many managed to do both. The U'mista Centre is a jewel of a museum, with an awesome collection of mostly 19th-century potlatch pieces, and other works of the Kwakwaka'wakw culture. The guided tour gave us an understanding of the history of the events that highlighted the conflict between two cultures that led first to the removal of the tribal art from a potlatch in 1921 by the Canadian Government, but eventually to the return of most of it, and the establishment of the Centre. However, some of us also managed to get some time alone with some of the pieces, allowing us to dream about the times when these pieces were powerful items in a vibrant culture, and to feel the spiritual esthetic of these magnificent works of art.
This afternoon ended with our gathering at the community's bighouse for a performance of T'sasala, the local dance company. The current bighouse is a wonderful contemporary version of a classical bighouse. It is larger than the traditional buildings, but built along the same basic pattern, and with the same cedar beam interior, unpaved earth floor and a fireplace in the middle underneath a set of open skylights serving as a chimney. As we entered the building, we were welcomed, and offered a treat of baked salmon, bannock and berry preserve. The leader of T'sasala gave us a brief introduction, and then a rhythmic drumbeat and wailing chant coming from 'the log' at the end of the hall indicated that the performance was about to start. Soon the dancers entered, uttering hoarse, rasping shouts. These were the young men from the 'Hamatsa'. In this story, these men have spent forty days in the wilderness, and are being enticed back to their village, however, having become cannibals, they have to be tamed. Two wild dancers, scantily dressed in rags, enacted out their wildness with erratic jumps and quivering hands, while two other, fully robed dancers represented the villagers who were coaxing the wild ones back to civilization. The drumbeat and song cadence led the rhythm of the dance, which was performed around the log fire in the middle of the floor. The dance ended abruptly, as the cloaked guides grabbed the wild men, and guided them off stage.
Several other dances followed, each telling a different story, such as the 'Hamsamt' which told us of the raven's magic, and the T'tasala, which is a peace dance. The brightly colored robes, masks and other disguises beguiled us into the world of Kwakwaka'wakw myth, leaving us dreaming of long gone days when myth and reality lived side by side. As we walked back to the Sea Lions, down Alert Bay's Front street, we realized that this community is very much part of our world, as well as a community with a living culture of its own, which has survived a difficult period, but is now confidently facing its future.
By the time the first guests came on deck this morning, we were sailing northwards on Johnson Strait opposite McMullen Point, with the forested slopes of Vancouver Island on portside, and Sonora Island to starboard. A brisk, cool northwesterly roughened up the surface of the channel into dark, choppy waves, crested with angry whitecaps. The sun, still hidden behind the eastern mountains, cast a wonderfully alluring pink glow onto the distant snow-clad peaks of the Island Range. As the morning unfolded, the sun abandoned us, and the wind blew cold and blustery, making relaxing in the lounge a very appealing alternative to being on deck. However, the landscape also rewarded us with a new grim beauty of immense stretches of water, islands of rock and dark green forests. The strip of temperate rainforest, from Oregon to Alaska, dissected and fragmented by fjords and channels, forms one of the most beautiful, convoluted shorelines in the world. This wondrous land is enhanced by an accident of geography; a collision of ocean currents and the fractured landscape has resulted in one of the most productive ecosystems. It was therefore not surprising that we experienced a morning with some great wildlife sightings, bringing most of us out of the comfort of the lounge and onto deck. Twice we spotted a black bear on the shore, poking around, looking for some edible bit of hapless marine life, and many sightings of eagles, loons, scoters, auklets, murres and other birds delighted us. But the highlight of the morning was our coming upon a minke whale (a first for most of us!), which swam past on a steady southward course, giving us a good view of its smooth back and small dorsal fin.
During lunch, the Sea Lion docked at Alert Bay, and we had the whole afternoon at this delightful native town on Cormorant Island. We were given the difficult choice between hiking a forest and muskeg trail, or indulging ourselves with the exquisite displays of the U'mista Cultural Centre and the dance performance at the bighouse. In the end, thanks to an efficient shuttle service, many managed to do both. The U'mista Centre is a jewel of a museum, with an awesome collection of mostly 19th-century potlatch pieces, and other works of the Kwakwaka'wakw culture. The guided tour gave us an understanding of the history of the events that highlighted the conflict between two cultures that led first to the removal of the tribal art from a potlatch in 1921 by the Canadian Government, but eventually to the return of most of it, and the establishment of the Centre. However, some of us also managed to get some time alone with some of the pieces, allowing us to dream about the times when these pieces were powerful items in a vibrant culture, and to feel the spiritual esthetic of these magnificent works of art.
This afternoon ended with our gathering at the community's bighouse for a performance of T'sasala, the local dance company. The current bighouse is a wonderful contemporary version of a classical bighouse. It is larger than the traditional buildings, but built along the same basic pattern, and with the same cedar beam interior, unpaved earth floor and a fireplace in the middle underneath a set of open skylights serving as a chimney. As we entered the building, we were welcomed, and offered a treat of baked salmon, bannock and berry preserve. The leader of T'sasala gave us a brief introduction, and then a rhythmic drumbeat and wailing chant coming from 'the log' at the end of the hall indicated that the performance was about to start. Soon the dancers entered, uttering hoarse, rasping shouts. These were the young men from the 'Hamatsa'. In this story, these men have spent forty days in the wilderness, and are being enticed back to their village, however, having become cannibals, they have to be tamed. Two wild dancers, scantily dressed in rags, enacted out their wildness with erratic jumps and quivering hands, while two other, fully robed dancers represented the villagers who were coaxing the wild ones back to civilization. The drumbeat and song cadence led the rhythm of the dance, which was performed around the log fire in the middle of the floor. The dance ended abruptly, as the cloaked guides grabbed the wild men, and guided them off stage.
Several other dances followed, each telling a different story, such as the 'Hamsamt' which told us of the raven's magic, and the T'tasala, which is a peace dance. The brightly colored robes, masks and other disguises beguiled us into the world of Kwakwaka'wakw myth, leaving us dreaming of long gone days when myth and reality lived side by side. As we walked back to the Sea Lions, down Alert Bay's Front street, we realized that this community is very much part of our world, as well as a community with a living culture of its own, which has survived a difficult period, but is now confidently facing its future.
