Alert Bay, Photo dump 1

The winds and seas did finally calm down last night soon after I went to bed, and stayed relatively calm the rest of the night. This morning I checked in with the wharfinger to pay my dock fee and also see about moving over to one of the regular floats. I also decided to stay one more night. He didn’t have any other spots available at the time, but said I could slide over to one of the spots they usually use for larger boats, if no one came in before the office closed at 3p. However, later in the day when the regular wharfinger stopped by, he said I could go on float A, which was the one farthest into the harbor behind the breakwater. I moved over there this afternoon, and it is much calmer! After checking in, I walked over to the First Nations cemetery on the south side of town. Totem poles mark many of the graves. Walking just a little farther, I came across the old Alert Bay Shipbuilding marine ways building. Looking through a window, I saw some very old outboard motors and a very large logging chain saw. A local guy walking by stopped to talk with me. He used to work there as a kid and said a local resident had purchased the building, but wasn’t doing anything with it. Sure wish I could have gone through to see some of the old stuff in there. After that I went back to the boat to make lunch. Then I headed to the other side of town to the U'mista Cultural Centre, a modern museum and cultural education facility about the First Nations people. Across the street from the Centre, is where St. Michaels school once stood. The school operated from 1929 to 1974. Operated by the Anglican Church and funded by the Canadian federal government, it was one of the largest residential schools in the country. The red-brick building was officially demolished in 2015. The facility housed up to 200 Indigenous children at a time, forcing them to sever ties with their families and cultures. Many Survivors experienced severe physical, emotional, and cultural abuse within its walls. After the school closed, the building was temporarily used by the 'Na̱mg̱is First Nation. It was subsequently demolished in February 2015 in a ceremony attended by hundreds of Survivors, marking the closure of a dark chapter for the local community. While inside the museum, I met one of the employees that is related to Calvin Hunt, the master carver I met in Fort Rupert. The employee played a drum and sang in the room with a Potlatch display of various masks. In his family, he is the Grizzly Bear, and took over that roll from his dad, who took over from his grandfather. So during events at the Big House, he will wear the bear mask and guards the door. The grizzly bear is known as the "Chief of all land creatures". The mask symbolizes physical might, authority, vitality, and fearlessness. After exploring the exhibits at that museum, I walked up to the Long House. There are two totem poles in front of it, one is 173’ tall, the tallest totem pole in the world. New word for stop learned today, ‘wa ‘la. Indigenous language of the Wakashan family. Tonight’s blog upload will be another one that requires two footprints to upload all the photos.Read more