August 3. SGang Gway and Flamingo Inlet to Rose Harbour
17 August 2009
Photo: Mortuary Poles at SGang Gway World Heritage Site.
From Flamingo Inlet we sailed ten miles south to Anthony Island, site of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of SGang Gway (formerly called Ninstints). The wind was blowing strong in the north anchorage so we anchored in Gray's Cove on the east side. Landing there has the advantage of giving a view of the entire collection of magnificent poles from the beach as you walk towards the site. Although we had been here ten years before, seeing the huge poles, standing proud more than 120 years after the village had been deserted, was still awe inspiring. I had remembered the poles but not their massiveness or the effect of seeing so many at one time among the trees. And realizing that these are only the mortuary poles -- most of the village's totem poles had been stolen or carted away to museums -- gives a glimmer of what the village once was. The immense sadness of the loss of this culture struck me. As the watchman guide told us, the Kunghit Haida, which included the Haida of Anthony Island, were almost totally wiped out by smallpox. Only these remnants of their monumental art remain.
SGang Gway was a good way to end our trip to the West Coast of the Queen Charlottes: with a reminder of the Haida who braved the seas, the wind, the rocks and the rain as part of their daily lives.
By the time we returned to our boat, a brisk breeze was blowing through the anchorage and white caps dotted the waters off shore. We had to scramble to raise the anchor without getting blown onto a rock or into a kelp bed. We raised sail and headed east towards Houston Stewart Channel and back towards Hecate Strait. As we entered the channel and turned north, the wind gradually died to a mere whisper. We'd left the gales of the West Coast of Queen Charlottes behind.
As we drifted up Houston Stewart Channel, we saw the white plumes of spouting humpback whales feeding in the shallows. A few minutes later a whale surfaced just off our starboard beam heading towards us. We watched amazed as it dove just a few feet away, then came up on our port side. It had swum under us!
We anchored off the old whaling station, reveling in the sunshine and quiet water. We planned to take a day off, relax and prepare for the crossing to the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The West Coast of the Charlottes might be behind us, but the open waters of Queen Charlotte Sound and the Pacific lay ahead of us.