It鈥檚 a crazy story but it鈥檚 true. It was 1964, and the Vancouver Aquarium wanted to display a life-size sculpture of an orca. Convinced a live specimen would be impossible to get as a model 鈥� orcas had a reputation as such fearsome creatures that fishermen persuaded federal fisheries officials to install a 50-calibre machine gun at Seymour Narrows to shoot them 鈥� they decided to kill one.
Stranger still, the sculptor, a man called Samuel Burich who was also a commercial fisherman, would be the one launching the harpoon.
They picked a scenic spot called East Point on Saturna Island, where the lighthouse keeper assured them orcas passed by nearly every day in summer.
East Point is a skinny, treeless stretch of land, where long grasses in every shade of gold and brown curve toward the edge of carved sandstone cliffs. In the midst is an iconic and picturesque small white structure with a red roof, called the fog alarm building, where four foghorns used to sound from the upper storey.
Apparently, it took some time to find a suitable orca. A photo in the sa国际传媒 archives shows sandstone rock carvings that Burich apparently etched during 鈥渆ight months of idle moments鈥� while waiting for a whale to swim into range of his harpoon gun.
Amazingly, the sculptor eventually managed to pick off a young orca, but the harpoon didn鈥檛 kill him. When the whale proved resilient, the aquarium director decided to shift course and tow the animal back to Vancouver Harbour, where they built a net pen for him at Burrard Drydocks.
The orca was thought to be a female, and dubbed Moby Doll after a public contest. In the end, however, he lived only three months, eventually succumbing to a skin disease as a result of low salinity in the harbour because of dilution by river water.
All this I learned from an exhibit inside the fog-alarm building, now run by a local historical society as a makeshift historic site and exhibition space (it was showing the stunning winners of a local photo contest when I was there). My visit this summer marked the 50th anniversary of the Moby Doll episode, which turned out to be pivotal, for better or for worse, to spurring other aquariums to keep whales in captivity.
It was a fascinating story, but one point stuck with me: Orcas pass by East Point nearly every day in summer. This was summer, albeit early summer, and we were renting a cottage very near the point 鈥� in fact, we could see it from our verandah. A prime shooting spot 鈥� with a camera this time.
Using a public viewfinder installed outside the fog alarm building, we watched seals lounging around the rocks near the aptly named Boiling Reef, where many a boat has foundered. We could also see a pair of eagles perched on a snag above the seals. But alas, no orcas.
Luckily, there are plenty of other things to do on this preternaturally quiet, minimally developed island, the most easterly and sparsely populated of the Gulf Islands, with a permanent population of only about 300.
Our first stop was Echo Bay and Narvaez Bay, reached via a one-kilometre-long trail from the parking lot, an easy walk on a wide trail for our six- and eight-year-old children.
Both bays are deep and narrow. The sheer, deeply etched cliffsides provide a heck of an echo, something our kids availed themselves of heartily, until we noticed the half-dozen painters trying to capture the stark serenity of the red arbutus against the green waters of the bay. Um, sorry.
Narvaez Bay is only a short distance from Echo, and home to seven walk-in or boat-in campsites above a rocky point. There is an outhouse, but you have to pack in your own water. It looked promising but ... maybe when the kids are older, and more helpful.
There are feral goats on the island, too. We never spotted them, though we saw plenty of evidence in the form of dung. The best place to see them, we were told, is Brown鈥檚 Ridge on the south side of the island.
We didn鈥檛 make it there, but we did sample some of the island鈥檚 other amenities, which include a pub, bookstore/convenience store, minimally stocked grocery store, winery and a 1963 double-decker bus that serves as a caf茅 and coffee shop.
With kids in tow, the latter 鈥� called the Wild Thyme Coffee House 鈥� was not to be missed. We dined on nettle soup and sandwiches made with nettle pesto on the upper deck, which has its own vintage Nintendo setup, along with numerous games for rainy days. The owner, Aleah Johnson, even made little happy-face food plates specially for the kids.
Our weekend was a mixed bag weather-wise, but our last day turned beautifully clear and sunny in the afternoon, and the cottage owner graciously allowed us to stay until we had to leave for the 4:10 ferry. It was a chance to do some geocaching in the vicinity, or just lounge around on the grassy stretch in front of the waterfront cottage and poke around in tidepools. The quiet was sumptuous 鈥� nothing but birds singing and the distant murmur of the waves.
I was sitting in a large white Adirondack chair staring off at East Point when I noticed a small procession of boats moving very slowly around the point, a large one at either end and a couple of inflatables in the middle. Suddenly, there was a huge splash in front of the lead boat 鈥� a breaching orca. 鈥淲hales!鈥� I yelled to my husband and kids, who had scattered across the beach, and we started jostling for binocular time.
The show continued for some minutes, until the splashing faded into the distance and the large boats pushed off, their contractual obligation to their customers discharged.
When we got to the modest ferry lineup that afternoon, we were greeted by an efficient-looking woman with short, grey hair and regulation sa国际传媒 Ferries shorts. She handed me a Swartz Bay card to stick in the window of the car. I asked her if she wanted me to return the purple Saturna Island card we鈥檇 been given on the way out.
鈥淣ope,鈥� she said briskly. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l be back.鈥�
I tucked it into the glove compartment. I do believe she may be right.
听
鈥� sa国际传媒 Ferries offers up to five sailings a day to Saturna from Swartz Bay on weekdays, fewer on weekends. Some sailings involve transferring to another boat at Mayne Island. If you鈥檙e on your way home, just remember to get in the lineup for the Swartz Bay-bound ferry on Mayne, rather than the Tsawwassen one. If you鈥檙e lucky enough to catch a non-stop sailing, it鈥檚 only just over an hour-long journey. If you have to make two or three stops, it can be two-plus hours.
鈥� There are several accommodation options on Saturna. We stayed at East Point Resort, which offers six cottages on a six-acre property on the beach at East Point, for $125 to $200 a night, depending on the season. Call 1-877-763-2073 or go to eastpointresort.ca for reservations. The only camping on the island is at Narvaez Bay, where Parks sa国际传媒 has seven walk-in backcountry campsites.
鈥� The Wild Thyme Coffee House is open daily until 4:30 p.m. and offers a selection of breakfast and lunch offerings.
