Monday, August 11, 2008

August 6 & 7 - Ethelda Bay (Estavan Group)

Odd Find in the middle of no-where
Beachcombing in the fog

Radio Room
Happy Campers

Rabbit Resident at Ethelda
Pucker Factor 4 Entrance
Betty on Top of the World - Helipadding it!
Lake on the Island

Sign leftover from 50's
New Friends from Dawson

Today by far was the shortest travelling day yet. We crossed 4 miles across the channel to the group of Islands called the Estavan Group. Our goal was to get to "Trutch" Island to see the radio towers and the remains of a Army base camp that oversaw the building and maintaining of the Radio equipment during the "Cold War". We saw the tower and went across the bay from Trutch Island to tie up at Ethelda Bay.

Ethelda Bay was the original base camp for the building and maintenance of the Radio Tower. The radio room, Helipad and a few out buildings still remain. They are owned by 2 fellows out of Vancouver and Rupert and were being caretaken by Dan & Danielle Pollard. When bad things happen up here, they strike hard! It appears that Dan died of a massive heart attack in Prince Rupert in February of this year and Danielle is now undergoing Breast Cancer Treatment in Rupert. Their home and the starts of a resort are orderly and thankfully not ransacked but will need some TLC soon if they are to maintain what has been done here so far. We know from some of the other places on the coast, that it does not take long for nature to take its own back. Dave took the dinghy to Trutch to see if he could find the road to the tower, but it was to overgrown and would require a machete to make it up to the tower.

We had just come back from our walk around the property and up to the Radio room and Helipad, when we heard what sounded like the Navy coming in! Four high speed 30' powerboats were screaming into the bay and heading straight for us at the docks. Turns out they are all one big family and they drive 13 hours from Dawson City to Kitimat to launch their boats and then drive the 5 or so hours from Kitimat to Ethelda and spend 2 weeks killing all they fish they can and then returning home. They were a very organized bunch, with freezers, plastic sealers and a big black book noting their catches against their fishing licence numbers so that all would be sorted out properly when they got home. They even had a portable fire pit and ax with them and they had a nice fire on the night we were all on the dock together.

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