We had to be in line at 10:00 for a ferry the was taking us to the Queen Charlotte Islands as it would be a seven hour trip.
We stopped at McDonalds for
breakfast and went to the mall that opened at 8:00. I went to buy some
posters that were actually paintings from Ruth Harvey. They were nice scenic pictures
of Prince Rupert and surrounding vicinity. I had bought some when I was
here last year and wanted to get the rest of her set. They were only $7 and I
would frame them at home. I met a older man there who was also looking at
the pictures who was able to tell me the history of some of the pictures.
One picture was of the dock with all of the boats from a painting she had done
in 1972. He was able to tell me the names of the owners of the boats and what they were
doing now of if they were still alive. It was like this was all yesteday, as it
was so fresh in his mind. I bought 5 paintings to go with the 4 we already had
at home.
The ferry left at 11:30 a.m. as it started out overcast but the clouds burned off
withen an hour after we were on the boat. It was blue sky the rest of the way
after being out of sight of Prince Rupert and we arrived at 6:15. We were here last year for two days in August
to decide if we would want to come back.
We were impressed with the isolation and the enviornment that this island had to offer. I can remember last
year swimming in a warm pacific ocean at 11:00 with the sun just setting and seeing bald eagles and fish jumping
out of the ocean at the same time. I have never seen a place like this so quiet and peacefule before.
We went to the new visitor center which was not here when we came last year. It was well done and gave an historical explanation of the Queen Charlotte Islands. We went to a couple more gift shops and then took the ferry south to Moresby Island which took twenty minutes. We had decided to stay on the southern island tonight as we would drive to Gray Bay for the night . We stopped at a community hall where they had set up art activities for families to do things together with their kids. We also drove by the golf course and airport in Sandspit on our way way to Gray Bay.
I saw a large black bear about 1 mile away from Sheldon’s picnic area
that had ony two tents set up that would overlook the water. I didn’t think it
was a good idea to stay close to a bear where he only had two families to
choose from if he was hungry. So instead we drove on and stayed at Gray Bay
which was about five miles further and had twelve larger campsites that were
on the water. It was a nice place, the only problem was that it was facing
east and so the sun went down much earlier. If we were facing west,
you could hace see it after 11:00. It was a little windy but the sky was
clear, and we made a fire and late dinner at 10:00 that night. We drove only 50 miles today and
6450 total for thirteen days.