Excerpt
This excerpt comes from Chapter 14 in the above book:
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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