Welcome to Alert Bay, BC


Alert Bay is the traditional home of the 'Namgis First Nation. It's a great little town with the terrific U'mista Cultural Centre. The carvings alone are worth seeing, but the video that runs is really interesting - and very poignant. After watching the video, which depicts the creation of the U'mista Centre, it's almost difficult to wander through the great log building, seeing all of the masks and robes that were worn at potlatches. The history here is that in the early 1900's (around 1919) the government (the US government did the same thing)made the tribal potlatch illegal and demanded that the tribes give all their masks and coppers and other potlatch accoutrements to the government in Ottawa. Then their children were forcibly removed from their homes and put into foster care in other towns, where they "learned to be white." It was really sad (again, we did the same thing in the US - must have been considered the thing to do with aboriginal peoples). In 1980, those artifacts were returned to the 'Namgis tribe, and they have created the cultural centre - U'mista is Kwakiutl for "return." Anyway, a very interesting place to visit.

The front doors of the U'mista Cultural Centre - carved by local, tribal artists

This trip reminds us of the old joke: a man was in a great flood, and sat upon his roof in the floodwaters, praying: "Dear God, please save me." Well, a young girl on a jetski came by and asked him if he wanted a ride. He said, "No thanks, kiddo, God's gonna save me." Then, a boy in a rowboat came along and asked if he wanted a ride, he again replied,"No thanks, son, God's gonna save me." Later, a US helicopter came by and the soldier shouted down, "Hey, Pops, you need help?" He said, "No thanks, God's gonna save me." When he ultimately drowned, he railed at God in Heaven, asking Him why He hadn't saved him. God said, "First, I sent a jetski, then I sent a rowboat, finally I sent a helicopter. Is it my fault you won't listen to me?" The moral is: something has gone wrong with Nellie every single day of this trip. Nothing huge, but every day it's been something. Now, we are running on our backup computer.....that makes us nervous, since after tomorrow we will be several days away from any kind of help. So, we have decided that we will go north, but probably not all the way to Alaska. It will still be there next year....We want to be sure that we're listening. This just doesn't seem like the year to go that far.

That said, tomorrow looks like a good day to go around Cape Caution (aka Primrose Point). It's another long day - about 50 miles. Tonight we'll look closely at the charts and find a few safe places, in case the weather deteriorates and we can't make it the whole way. Once around, we'll be in Queen Charlotte Sound, and we'll travel slowly up through the area, into the Fiordland Recreation Area, which is about 7 days north of Cape Caution. The next time we have any kind of internet access will be in Bella Bella or Shearwater (First Nation villages), so it will be several days before I can update this blog.

In happy news, The USA BEAT ALGERIA in the World Cup! We are first in our group!!!