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Gwaii Haanas - Queen Charlotte Islands Sailing Adventure in Canada
8 or 9 Days
Sixty miles off the coast of northern British Columbia, a group of islands emerge from the ocean mist like something out of a marvellous dream. Haida Gwaii, or the Queen Charlotte Islands, have often been referred to as Canada’s Galapagos Islands, and for good reason. They boast an amazing biodiversity, including moss-draped old-growth sitka spruce, hemlock, and cedar forests, one quarter of British Columbia’s nesting sea birds, one third of its peregrine falcons, a host of marine mammals such as whales and sea lions, and some flora and fauna that are found nowhere else in the world.
They also contain a rich cultural legacy that dates back thousands of years and has warranted designation as a United Nations World Heritage Site. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, called “place of wonder” by the Haida First Nation, is the home of an ancient Haida village called Ninstints. Surrounded by towering old-growth forests, its weathered and listing totem poles facing out to the sea, Ninstints is like a world forgotten by time.
How This Holiday Makes A Difference:
For the longest time, tourism in the Queen Charlotte Islands was primarily focused on the fishing lodge business. There was much criticism at the community level about visitors flying in on a chartered aircraft who went straight to the lodge and never at any moment had the opportunity to visit a local art gallery or spend money in local stores. One of the things we do on this trip is encourage people to come up earlier or to stay longer, so they can discover other facets of the community. We will guide them in their choice of activities and accommodations. We actually build this into the experience to some extent by hiring local resources to go on a tour, cook a traditional meal for guests prepared by a local First Nations family, sometimes even giving guests a chance to spend a night with a local family.
We estimate that our activities have generated tens of thousands of dollars in revenue for individuals and businesses in Haida Gwaii. This is not something that earns us extra revenue. Because we are here for the long term, nurturing relationships with host communities is very important.
In all Canadian areas that are part of First Nations territory, we work collaboratively with them. In the Great Bear Rainforest—the most tangible example—we signed protocol agreements with two First Nations that carry 90% of our operating area. Hartley Bay’s Gitga’at people is one; and the Kitasoo Native Band at Klemtu is the other. Our activities generate $10 per person per night as a fee that is paid for the use of their territory. It is our recognition of their historic rights. We are committed to hiring local guides. At Hartley Bay, on all of our Great Bear Rainforest trips, we will spend a day with a guide hired through the Gitga’at development corporation. Typically, that is a Spirit bear-focused experience.
We are committed to buying our food for the trips in local communities, despite this being at times a challenge for our cooks, because supplies are not as dependable and more menu flexibility is required as a result.
There are 4 crew members, the captain, the chef, our resource person who is typically a biologist, and then our mate who assists the others, runs the zodiacs, assists with the kayaks and sails. We have an on-going wildlife log so all significant wildlife sightings are catalogued. We are travelling in parts of the coast that researchers seldom get to. For 20 years, we have been doing marine mammal sightings in conjunction with the Vancouver Aquarium and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo.
“Appreciate wilderness, respect wildlife and native cultures”
We only travel in small groups of 12-16 guests. Small groups can watch in awe as a bear feeds on salmon. Smaller boats can float silently among the whales.
We adhere to the principals of ecotourism. We support local communities, promote conservation, ensure our practices are low impact, and provide guests with world-class knowledge about the coast, the wildlife and Native cultures. We travel together in a relaxed, fun style (our lives are here to be enjoyed). We contribute to a variety of whale and seabird research programs and support conservation groups working to protect coastal wilderness.
On each trip we are committed to introducing participants to the wonders of nature. An experienced naturalist leads daily walks ashore and often provides short evening slide shows or presentations. Participants find learning engages their curiosity, and enriches the trip immensely.
On all our voyages we intentionally keep our itineraries flexible to take advantage of wildlife sightings, weather and tides, and the interests of the group.
These sample itineraries describe typical trips. Activities, however, may occur in a different order or be substituted by suitable alternatives. Wildlife is wild life and may not necessarily conform to our schedules.
Trip Clothing and Equipment List:
Clothing and Bedding
Most Important Items (see notes)
- sleeping bag (or sheets and blankets)
- pillow case - we supply the pillow
- rain jacket with hat or attached hood (waterproof)
- rain pants (waterproof)
- rubber boots (knee height, any style)
- towel
- personal medication
(clearly labelled)
shoes (soft soled and non-marking for wearing on deck)
warm jacket
warm sweater
warm hat
warm gloves or mittens
long underwear
Personal Items:
sunglasses
spare eyeglasses
personal toiletry, soap,
shampoo
suntan lotion
Optional:
reading materials
camera and high speed film (for low light)
extra camera battery
sketching materials
diary or note paper
bird book, field guides
binoculars or spotting scope
small backpack
small flashlight or headlamp
water bottle (for shore excursions)
Notes:
- We ask you to bring a sleeping bag, as there are no facilities for laundry onboard. If you are taking a trip in the Spring or Fall a warm sleeping bag is recommended.
- Rain gear needs to be completely waterproof and strong enough to stand up to wear. Rubber boots should be comfortable. Knee high boots will ensure dry feet. Expect daily use stepping ashore from small boats at the ocean's edge and walking in west coast rainforest.
- We cannot accommodate suitcases aboard the boat and ask that your clothing and equipment be brought aboard in soft sided, compressible bags, for example duffel bags or some other soft case that can be easily stowed.
- Be prepared to dress in layers to accommodate changes in weather. Good warm outer clothing (including warm hat and gloves or mittens) and good rain clothing allows you to remain comfortable in windy or wet conditions. A good, light thermal layer can go along way to providing comfort. (Remember the whales don't stop just because it's raining).
- Please be aware that there may be weight restrictions for floatplanes, if your trip includes this option. If you are concerned about seasickness your doctor can recommend medications designed to prevent motion sickness.
Personal Identification Needed:
Passengers will require a valid passport when crossing the US/CDN border for all trips.
Photography
There are some excellent opportunities to photograph wildlife, forests, and totem poles. Consider bringing high speed film, or a tripod for photographing in the forest. Participants wishing to photograph native cultural sites for commercial purposes must receive permission in advance from the Haida and Parks Canada - please contact the office for further information.
Wilderness
A sailing voyage to Gwaii Haanas will provide the rare opportunity to explore a pristine wilderness region. These islands are an isolated archipelago, difficult to reach and rarely visited. Access is possible only by boat or charter floatplane. To get ashore participants step down into a large inflatable boat, and then step out onto the beach or rocks. We will walk beaches that may have seen no other footprints this year and look for Japanese glass fishing floats that might have washed ashore. We will anchor in secluded bays and expect to see few other people as we explore this remarkable wilderness area.
Itinerary Information
On each trip, we plan to visit specific sites from among the many highlights. We do visit the old Haida village of SGaang Gwaii (the UN World Heritage Site) and Hotsprings Island on every trip, and otherwise, which sites we visit changes trip to trip. Each day brings a variety of new adventures; several shore excursions, and each night, a different quiet and secluded anchorage. The daily itinerary and choice of stops is intentionally flexible to meet group interests, weather patterns, any management restrictions, and of course, wildlife sightings. In fact, no two trips are alike.
Package Price:
3775.00 Can./Person
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Location: Gwaii Haanas - Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada
Weather: Warm summers
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Day 1 Gwaii Haanas - Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada
Departing Sandspit on the northeastern tip of Moresby Island
8-Day Itinerary Dates (2008): $3775.00
June 28 to July 5
July 5 to July 12 Full
July 12 to July 19
July 19 to July 26
July 27 to August 3
August 3 to August 10 Full
9-Day Itinerary Dates (2008): $3950.00
May 16 to May 24
May 24 to June 1 Full
June 3 to June 11
June 11 to June 19
June 19 to June 27 Full
August 10 to August 18
August 18 to August 26
8-Day Sample Itinerary
Day 1:
Meet at the Sandspit Airport, in the Queen Charlotte Islands following breakfast and overnight accommodation provided at a local hotel. Air Canada services Sandspit
with daily flights from Vancouver International Airport. Our guide and naturalist will meet you at the Arrivals area. We start by traveling by charter van to visit the new $26 million Haida Heritage Centre and the Haida Gwaii Museum in Skidegate, including six new totem poles and a carving centre. Lunch is traditional Haida cuisine hosted by a Skidegate Haida family. Late afternoon, we travel by ferry to Moresby Island and a one-hour drive along logging roads to Moresby Camp. Here we board the 70’ “Island Roamer" alongside. Guests are assigned cabins and will receive an introduction and safety orientation before dinner.
Days 2 – 8:
Over the next 7 days our naturalist and crew will point out wildlife, help participants identify different species and lead some fascinating talks on the history, flora and fauna of this wonderful area. We will go ashore daily to visit old Haida villages, walk “old-growth” forests and explore the low-tide shoreline. We will have excellent chances to see humpback whales, orcas, the Queen Charlotte Islands black bear, and numerous species of birds, including bald eagles, puffins and peregrine falcons. Specific highlights planned include:
-Tanu – the old Haida village where famous Haida artist, Bill Reid has his headstone
-Burnaby Narrows – where we will use the two zodiac boats and sea kayaks to float above a garden of colourful starfish, anemones and urchins just below the surface
-Rose Harbour – the site of one of Canada’s last whaling stations
-UN World Heritage Site of Ninstints - this old, unoccupied Haida village holds the largest number of original, standing totem poles anywhere on the coast
-Ikeda Cove – the remains of a Japanese hand mining operation
-Hot Springs Island – for a soak in the natural mineral pools with a view of the San Cristoval Mountains
-Windswept Skedans (Koona), once a major Haida village where now the totems are starting to fall
Day 8:
Mid-morning departure at Moresby Camp. The charter bus will meet participants and return them to the Sandspit Airport to catch afternoon flights back to Vancouver.
Haida
Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) is home to the Haida - one of the most culturally rich and developed groups of people to inhabit early North America. The Haida name for the southern islands, Gwaii Haanas, appropriately translates as Ancient Totem Poles in Queen Charlotte Islands“islands of beauty” or “place of wonder”. Among the southern islands are many ancient villages - K’uuna (Skedans), Cumshewa,T’annu and SGaang Gwaii (Ninstints). These sites contain the remains of the great long houses and the best remaining examples of original totem poles in the world. The United Nations has recognized the cultural value of these sites and designated SGaang Gwaii as a “World Heritage Site, of importance to the history of mankind”.
Many totem poles still stand in the old Haida village of K’uuna (Skedans), or can be found fallen and decomposing in the grass. This village illustrates the ideal choice of site by the Haida - situated between two beaches providing access and escape for canoes. At T’annu, the forest is struggling to reclaim the giant wood beams of the old longhouses, now under the shadows of trees and advancing moss. In Cumshewa, hereditary Chief Charlie Wesley has just built a new modern longhouse alongside the old village. We usually cannot visit all the old Haida sites, choosing our stops as interest and trip focus require.
The old villages are now uninhabited. However, each summer the Haida have Watchmen at several of the old villages to protect their heritage and greet visitors. The chance to listen to a Haida story, and learn about both traditional and modern Haida life, for many people, becomes a highlight of the trip. It is a unique opportunity and wonderful experience found almost nowhere else on the coast. At some special sites, such as Windy Bay, there are giant cedars and spruce. We will see cedar strips removed from living trees by the Haida to make clothing and baskets. From our naturalists, and encounters with Haida we will learn about the art, legends, customs and food gathering methods of the Haida people. We will gain an understanding of how the Haida related intimately to their environment to produce a unique and highly evolved art form.
Birds
The annual spring plankton bloom in the Queen Charlottes provides a rich influx of food into the ecosystem and supports breeding colonies of up to oneEagle Fishing million seabirds. Interesting birds will be with us throughout these trips. Some of the more colourful species include; tufted puffins, horned puffins, rhinoceros auklets, black-footed albatross, black oystercatchers, and pigeon guillemots.With such abundant bird life, raptors, such as the peregrine falcon, are common in the Charlottes. The concentration of bald eagle nests along the coast is second only to Admiralty Island in Alaska. Our constant companions will be the smaller seabirds such as ancient murrelets, marbled murrelets, common murres, phalaropes, and gulls. On Limestone Island, seabird research is being conducted by the local Laskeek Bay Conservation Society. Every May, they band tiny ancient murrelet chicks and adults to learn about the natural history of this fascinating species. With the help of all interested trip members we will keep a list of our bird sightings.
Trees and Plants
Haida Gwaii is home to some remarkable “old-growth” forests with giant stands of Sitka spruce, western hemlock, red and yellow cedar. The coastal rain forests of the Pacific Northwest - reaching a zenith in these islands - hold the largest accumulation of biomass (living matter) on the now limited, and only a select group of companies and guides are permitted to bring visitors to Gwaii Haanas. We often go ashore in smaller groups to minimize our impact, and generally follow the management guidelines that have now been developed. Our operations is proud to have been one of the original companies that helped develop an ethical and ecological Code of Conduct for Gwaii Haanas - a model of responsible operation across North America. planet, even more than tropical rain forests. The forest floors are deeply carpeted with hundreds of species of mosses, salal bushes, huckleberry, and ferns. One of the fascinating ecological aspects is that the alpine zone almost reaches the ocean in many areas here. Hikes from the shore up to these alpine areas reveal meadows and bogs richly carpeted in grasses, herbs and brightly coloured flowers such as buttercups, alpine lily and Newcombe’s butterweed.
Marine Mammals
These islands lie perched on the outer edge of the continental shelf. From the western shore the Pacific Ocean drops off to incredible depths. Upwelling Elephant Sealnutrients provide the essential ingredients for plankton - the base of the food chain - and form a rich feeding area for many marine mammals. Blue, sperm, minke, sei, gray, finback, humpback and killer whales (orca) all historically frequent these waters. Earlier in the century, local whaling reduced their numbers. Although we cannot count on seeing whales, we often encounter these fascinating marine mammals. Harbour seals are seen either swimming near shore or hauled out on beaches. In early summer, several thousand Steller sea lions congregate at Cape St. James - at the southern tip of Haida Gwaii - to mate and give birth to their pups. It is quite a sight to see a large male Steller weighing over a ton.
Intertidal Life
Tidal changes of up to 23 feet between high and low tide create remarkably rich shoreline marine life. A highlight of the Gwaii Haanas/ South Moresby region is Intertidal Life in the Queen Charlotte IslandsBurnaby Narrows, a 150 foot wide channel connecting the waters of Juan Perez
Sound and Skincuttle Inlet. This intertidal area has been described as the most productive aquatic zone in North America.With our naturalist we will explore intertidal areas to find many varieties of sea stars, giant barnacles, mussels, clams, snails, urchins, crabs, sponges, chitons, sea cucumbers, nudibranchs and a wealth of other colourful and interesting creatures. We often float through the shallow waters observing the myriad variety of life just beneath the surface. The incredible richness of ocean life around these islands truly amazes one. We may do some fishing and hope to supplement the regularly prepared shipboard feasts. Canadian saltwater fishing licenses are required to fish and must be obtained prior to departure.
Land Animals
The Queen Charlotte Islands black bear is the largest black bear in the world. Through isolation from their mainland cousins these black bears have developed a larger lower jaw because of frequent foraging and feeding along the shoreline. Black-tailed deer and raccoons are introduced species to the islands, and though we may enjoy seeing them, ecologically they are both causing problems. Without natural predators, their populations are expanding to the detriment of other species. Bird colonies are seriously at risk to raccoons. The cedar tree - foundation of the Haida culture - is disappearing from the over browsing of the deer.
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