The Strait Years
by Elaine Seavey
Excerpt:
This excerpt comes from Chapter 14 in the above book: Deserted Bay
DESERTED BAY
We were heading up Jervis Inlet, enroute to Princess Louisa Inlet, when we
stopped at a point of land at the entrance to Deserted Bay to fish. The
fish-finder was marking fish, so we dropped our jigs down to the bottom.
Before long, Rodger pulled up a six pound “yellow eye,” (officially known as
a rasphead rockfish)…a bright orange fish with large yellow eyes. A short time
later I pulled in its twin! Then we decided to explore the bay for a possible
anchorage site.
Farther into the bay, we came to an old dock. Here, a colorful killer whale
had been painted on a sign, with the words “Welcome to Tah-Nye.”
Since the sign said “welcome,” we pulled up and moored to the dock. While
Rodger cleaned the fish, I rowed the raft along the shore line farther into the
bay. There were a lot of oysters in the water at the edge of the shore, so I
gathered a few before returning to the boat.
Once again we were living off the land…or should I change that to off the
sea?? We had a small gas grill along. First, we put the oysters on the grill
until the shells opened. Then, removing the meat from the shell, we dipped them
in hot sauce or in a combination of melted butter, white wine and garlic powder.
We also grilled some of the fish.
It was a warm evening and we sat out admiring the scene before us. Our
cockpit faced the water, with high mountains all around us. It was truly a
beautiful place!
When first coming in, we had spotted some buildings at the head of the bay. In
the morning, we climbed the rickety ramp and followed a path toward these
buildings.
Here, we found five modular houses, a workshop, and one building which
appeared to have been a school. All the buildings had been abandoned for a long
time.
Later, we took the raft back toward the entrance to the bay, and came upon a
creek coming out of the mountains. It had formed a sandy delta where it entered
the bay. Beaching the raft, we found steamer clams here, so we dug some of them.
There were also a lot of oysters, and we gathered a mess of them as well. Then
we discovered the rocks were loaded with large mussels, so we added some of them
to our seafood collection.
Returning to the dock, we saw an old boat heading our way. There were two
Indians in the boat, and immediately I became wary, as we were a long way from
any inhabitation. As it turned out, they were friendly, one saying in a joking
way, “We came to collect the moorage.”
They pulled up and joined us. Still puzzled about the abandoned buildings, we
inquired about them. Evidently they were from the days when a logging company
operated out of this bay. Families had lived there, and the children attended
the school we had seen. These two men had lived as boys near the creek where we
had stopped earlier, and they had attended school at the logging camp. When the
area had been more or less logged off, the village was abandoned. There had also
been an Indian village at the mouth of the river.
We learned that the older brother, Tom, was a recovering alcoholic, who still
counseled other reforming alcoholics and drug users…mostly teen-aged kids. The
Indians built a lodge at the head of a bay we passed coming in, and Tom operates
this lodge where the kids come for help. The younger brother was a member of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and lived in the town of Sechelt.
They had come here to check out the abandoned buildings, and also to check if
salmon had started coming up the river. Before they started up the path, they
made sure they had their “bear spray” along, as there were “a few black bears
around, and one grizzly that could be a problem!”
When they returned, I served them coffee and fig bars, and we listened to
them talk about the old days when Indians lived here on the shores of Deserted
Bay.
After they left, Rodger got some pails of water from a waterfall behind us, and
leaving them on the dock to warm up…later on we took baths!
The following day we took the raft to the mouth of the river where the former
Indian settlement had been. We found the ruins of a building, but nothing else.
Rodger came upon an old logging road which he wanted to follow, but seeing the
grass smashed down, and discovering huge bear tracks, (most likely the “problem
grizzly”) I had no intention of surprising “Old Grizz!”
Returning to the raft, we rowed parallel to the rocky beach and came across
three old canoe runs. Along the beach, rocks had been cleared away for quite a
distance inland, creating long paths along the sand. It was an exciting
discovery.
We had our dinner in “courses” that night. First some steamed clams and
mussels with melted garlic butter. Then we ate some of the smallest oysters raw
with red hot sauce. The main course was fried oysters with canned peas and
garlic toast. It was a meal fit for a king!
Once again that evening we watched the brilliant orange setting sun as it
turned the mountains to deep purple and the glaciers on the horizon to a mellow
rose as it slowly sunk from sight on the jagged horizon. The colors were in turn
reflected across the water, creating a colorful palette of warm colors.
We counted our many Blessings to have found this beautiful bit of
paradise…and have it all to ourselves for five wonderful days. Now though, we
wonder…why didn’t we stay longer?
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