ng protected coastal area.
This ecological treasure is currently at the center of a fierce struggle between Native and environmental groups and backers of the Northern Gateway Pipelines project, which if approved, would send crude oil tanker traffic regularly passing through its channels.
Today, only a handful of tourist-toting ships like the Maple Leaf operate along the coast of this magnificently rugged, rain swept wilderness, where snowcapped peaks loom over precipitous, forested fjords that plunge into deep dark channel waters.
And what a ship the Maple Leaf is. Originally built in 1904 as a luxury racing yacht by Vancouver timber titan Alexander Maclaren, she began life as the queen of the West Coast sailing scene. Then resurfaced as the most legendary halibut longliner of her time, fishing the brutal Bering Sea for over forty years.
Restored to her original glory in 1986, this maritime marvel has cruised the coast from Bella Bella to Alaska ever since, introducing generations of eco-travellers to one of the world’s last remaining truly wild places. Up here, mist often lingers in the tangy salt air like a primordial stage curtain, occasionally parted by rainbows to reveal a world of untouched natural beauty that Smith lovingly calls “a blueprint for how the world can repair itself.”
During our voyage from Bella Bella to Prince Rupert, some days are blustery, and others gloriously sunny. But we are thankfully spared much of the pelting rain and gale force winds that give this tempestuous stretch of the North Pacific such a stormy reputation.
Each day brings fresh adventures. We take frequent shore excursions, marching through boggy estuaries under the tutelage of the ship’s naturalist, Briony Penn, searching for indigenous plants with names like queen’s cup and dwarf dogwood, paintbrush and devil’s club. There are soaks in hidden natural hot springs, forays in search of ancient petroglyphs, fishing off the Maple Leaf’s stern, and sailing when weather permits. Most popular are evenings on deck spent feasting on freshly caught giant Dungerese crabs and jumbo prawns, washed down with fine BC and international wines.
One brisk morning we stretch our sea legs following fresh wolf tracks along a deserted island’s sandy white beach and hike through old growth forest, where we’re careful to leave minimal traces of our passing. Another afternoon, we bless the ship at a thundering waterfall. This involves Captain Smith steering the Maple Leaf’s bowsprit right to the spray-soaked edge of one of the countless waterfalls lining the route. Just close enough, it turns out, for first mate Greg Shea to fill an outstretched tumbler with arguably the purest H2O on Earth.
Along the route we encounter few other traces of humanity until we pay a visit to Klemtu, an isolated Kitasoo and XaisXais First Nations village of 400 that’s only accessible by boat or plane. Adorned with the clan emblems of the eagle, wolf, killer whale and raven, Klemtu’s mammoth red cedar “Bighouse” hosts important cultural events – the naming of children, traditional potlaches and ceremonies to honour the deceased – that help to preserve Native culture all along this coastline.
Botany and cultural excursions aside, the most magnetic lure for most of the Maple Leaf’s eight passengers is catching glimpses of whales, wolves, dolphins and, of course, bears. Since the elusive Spirit bear – estimated to now only number between one and four hundred – rarely emerges from deep within the forests of Princess Royal and Gribble Islands until fall salmon spawning season, we pin our hopes on grizzly sightings, although Smith encourages us to lay our species checklists aside and simply “put ourselves in the path of the magic”.
Turns out, the magic is all around us as we explore some of the same secluded bays, marshy inlets and swift flowing channels that Captain George Vancouver and other early European explorers once charted, and that First Nations peoples have called home for thousands of years.
Magic in the exuberance of White Sided River Dolphins and Dall’s Porpoises as they