July 5 – To Rose Harbour

Even though we had gotten up in the night, we were still awake fairly early. There are no curtain on the windows and it is light out really late and really early.

Before breakfast was ready at 8, we went out on the deck. The water is very clear and it was flat calm so we could see a long way down.

 

Checking out the jellies.

In for breakfast. bacon, eggs, hash browns and fruit salad.

After everyone suited up, we were off on glassy smooth water.

It is pretty easy to tell where the high tide mark is.

Our first stop was a small, rocky island that is mostly under water at high tide. When we arrived it was an exceptionally low tide.

The place is just covered, on land and in the water, with sea urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs and an amazingly colourful array of small bat sea stars. 

Grace offered to bring a sea urchin for us to try at lunch but we declined. I should have done it.

The sea cucumbers are normally much skinnier but puff up as a protection mechanism.

Kieran found a baby one in the rocks.

We spent a long time wading and climbing around.

Next up was a beach that looked kind of small from the water.

But I always forget that the trees that I am using for my size reference are so much larger than the ones I am used to.

First we checked out some more tide pools.

Grace found some tiny sea stars.

And a tiny urchin.

Some clams.

Jennie found a shell that looks like a tiny owl.

Paul found a bump in the sand high up on the beach and dug it out. It was a huge Moon Snail.

It slowly slimed its way back under the sand.

We headed up to check out some of the monster trees in the forest.

And then back to the bus.

Our lunch stop was another in an endless supply of gravel beaches.

The buffet table was a convenient log. I am writing this many days later but I seem to remember that we had tortilla wraps and a lemon poppy seed loaf.

There are always some rocks and tide pools to investigate.

Grace and Kieran always seem to be the lead explorers. In the forest …

and on the shore.

On the way to our next stop, those of us in the front (not me) saw a humpback whale tale but it was flipped up for a dive. We waited around for a while but nothing happened so we moved on.

Another quick stop was this small rocky outcrop with some puffins flying around. I never got a good picture but I will include this one to remind myself.

Next up was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Haida village of Ninstints.

The village is on one side of a small point and the protected cove where we park the boats is on the other. The rope pulley to keep the boats off the shore went from a small island. Grace had to wade ashore after parking our boat.

And then the short path across the point.

Up until last year the accommodations for the Haida Watchmen had been a large tent. Now they have a brand new large cabin.

Since it is a very famous site, there are three watchmen here to handle the increased traffic. Two of them are a young married couple and they have their son with them. Dom is the same age as Kieran so the two of them took off exploring while we went to the village.

 

Another short path through the really mossy and crevassed forest.

The small bay in front of the village is somewhat protected by an island but it is still quite open so I imagine it gets very wavy in here.

Once again all the frontal poles are gone but there are a lot of mortuary poles.

He explained the meaning of the crests on each pole.

We visited a few of the longhouses behind the poles and he explained the various construction styles.

Even though they say the villages were here about 150 years ago, you really get an idea when you see the size of this tree that has split the corner post of one of the houses.

Moving around the bay, we had to stay on the shore because the ground around these poles was too unstable to be walked on.

They are not sure why but some of the poles have burn damage.

Looking back.

We continued on to a loop trail that took us back to the start.

An interesting bit of fungus on the end of a log.

And through a final narrow crack in the rock.

Heading out of the protected cove.

Whereas the cove was flat calm, we looped around the island on the open ocean side. Kieran really loved the bouncing as we went over the large rolling waves.

We had actually passed our accommodations for the night on our way to Ninstints so we headed back the short distance to Rose Harbour.

Since this is already a really long post I will leave a description of our unique sleeping and eating quarters until tomorrow’s post, although it will probably be just as long.

Here is today’s path.