Jennie and Stuart on the Road: July 6 – North from Rose Harbour

Rose Harbour is the name of the place where we stayed overnight. It used to be a whaling station.

The old steam plant.

The land was last purchase by what could reasonably called a hippie commune. I think there were a total of 10 people that lived here in isolation far from everyone else. I am not sure why they were allowed to stay when the national park was formed but they were. Now only 3 of them remain. Goetz rents out rooms to overnight guests, Susan runs a restaurant to feed everyone and one other person also rents out rooms.

To say that Goetz and his house is “unique” is an understatement. I realize now that I never got a picture of him. I think it is because he has such a strong personality that when he was in the room you couldn’t think of anything else. His beard has a pony tail with bead in it. He came over from Germany a long time ago as a dentist but couldn’t get certified so he eventually decided to escape civilization.

Now all he talks about is how the park wants them all gone. He took his protest far enough that he got arrested. They even hired a helicopter to fly all the way out here to deliver the summons. The judge eventually threw it all out and he got $75,000 in damages. Everybody seems to know that if you start to talk to him, you will hear the whole story and be there for a while.

This is his house. There is also another building beside it with bedrooms,

I did a photosphere near here.

Rose Harbour Photosphere

The little dormer at the very back held our upstairs “room” / cubby hole.

To get to it you had to climb up the steep ladder at the back right in the picture below. Going up was OK but coming down bothered Jennie.

The amenities include a wood fired shower.

and the toilet.

He was very proud of the, imported from Europe, Styrofoam seat covers. They actually work really well and always feel warm.

I didn’t mind our room and had a good nights sleep even if the bed was a bit short. Paul, William and Kieran were in the other building and they said that nobody started the wood stove so they were very cold.

Even at the edge of civilization you need a satellite internet connection.

On the beach in front is a giant fin whale jaw bone. He collected it from a skeleton he found down the coast. He first wants to get the other piece to make an arch but eventually he wants the whole thing. We were warned not to touch it as it still has a lot of oil in in it and you will stink for a long time.

About a hundred yards away is Susan’s house, which serves as the restaurant.

The view out into the bay.

And another photosphere.

Rose Harbour Photosphere 2

Our party’s table in the back.

She cooked everything on a wood stove and we were warned to dress very lightly as the whole house turns into an oven. She is kind of blurry because it is dark in there so I needed a long exposure but also because she never seems to stop moving.

The only way to get supplies is by the boats coming down from Sandspit so she grows as much of her own food as she can in the huge garden out back.

These where just outside our table’s window.

Even a tiny lemon tree.

Normally she only has to serve meals to our tour and one other which usually means about 10-15 people. Last night there were 3 tours and a bunch of people off of some private boats for a total of 34 for dinner. One of the other tour operators had gone out to catch some halibut that Susan cooked for us all.

This morning it was back to a more reasonable number and we all had pancakes for breakfast.

After we got ourselves organized it was time to head out.

A group of kayakers were using this place as a base to explore the area for a week.

All bundled up, ready for the cold. Grace, our guide also sometimes wore ski goggles.

I finally let Jennie have the camera.

There were lots of low clouds this morning.

Our first quick pause was at a large sea cave.

It was hard to judge the size but I would guess it was 20 – 30 feet above the water. Someone said that they could light shining through from the other side.

There were some Oystercatchers on the nearby rocks watching us.

Since I was up in the bow taking pictures I took the opportunity to look back.

At speed, the framing didn’t work out so well.

Our first long stop was a black gravel beach.

Time to peel off those layers, again.

The cliffs behind the beach were layered into a kind of staircase,

Climbing over some rocks to explore farther down.

Another photosphere.

Gwaii Hanaas Black Rock Beach Photosphere

Grace leading the exploration.

More tide pools.

Eventually we headed back.

The beach where Grace had planned to have lunch was in use.

So she picked one new to her.

Unfortunately this is not a good picture of Jennie but it was the only one I took of lunch. From what I remember it was fresh bread, ling cod and a bean salad, with ginger and chocolate squares for dessert.

It seemed that we were on a narrow section of the island because there was another beach right behind us. It must be facing the prevailing wind because it was covered in logs and plastic debris.

Jennie’s collection.

Our next stop was the Haida settlement at Windy Bay.

The main attractions here are a recreated long house and a relatively new pole commemorating the agreement between the Haida and the government to control the logging on Haida Gwaii.

Another photosphere.

Windy Bay Photosphere

The young lady in blue, below, was one of the watchmen and told the story of the pole, including singing some songs in Haida. I wanted to take a picture but it didn’t seem right to disturb the moment with the sound of the camera.