Today was a special day. Today we made it to Cape St. James. For those of you who do not know, Cape St. James is the southern most part of the Haida Gwaii Archipelago. It is part of the handful of small islands that sit on what feels like the edge of the world. The rugged rocks are home to only the toughest of vegetation that can stand up against the severe winter storms. Russ expertly nosed Passing Cloud close into the rocks to watch the puffins and sea birds fly by, the swells surge between the rocks and sea lions resting on the rocks.
Before we made to it Cape St. James we hit another Haida Gwaii favorite: Woodruff beach. Woodruff is a beautiful white sand beach that looks like it should be in Hawaii, it is a stark contrast against the rugged landscape of much of the surrounding islands. We spent a few hours walking the shore line, exploring and discovering what can be found amongst the marine debris.
I was after a glass Japanese fish float, they had been popping up all along the coast last year but unfortunately there were none to be found. I did however find a collection of fishing debris washed up from the ocean currents. It is hard to believe that in a place so remote, that sees so few people there is so much garbage. We did a quick clean up, collecting everything we could and putting it into a pile above the tideline for Parks Canada to come and collect. Before we headed back to the ship we had the opportunity to search for shells, and various other sea life and Russ gave us a lesson on each.
That night we anchored right in front of Woodruff and were rocked to sleep by the gentle swells.
