Klemtu



The "Big House"



Remaining Portion of Boardwalk



We departed Emily Bay in the morning and cruised through Seaforth Channel and Milbanke Sound, then entered Finlayson Channel after 5-6 hours of motoring and anchored near Klemtu in Clothes Bay.  The next morning we docked at the Native Village of Klemtu and enjoyed a walk around the village.  We visited the beautiful “Big House” (Longhouse) and the Village School.  Children were arriving for classes and expressed pride for their school and asked where I was from.  We also stopped by the Band Grocery Store located next to the busy fish processing plant.  The plant occupies the site of a cannery begun in 1927 which eventually closed in 1966.  The current processing plant was built by the Band Council in 1987 and provides local employment, serving Vancouver and U.S. fish markets.  As we strolled along a portion of the original boardwalk, I imagined what it must have been like in an earlier time.  The boardwalk was known as the world’s longest boardwalk and once encircled the entire bay; sadly, only a portion of the boardwalk remains today.  We had lunch back at the boat and soon it was time for John to catch his Pacific Coastal floatplane from Klemtu back to Bella Bella, then onward for home in eastern Washington.  We walked to the floatplane dock and bid him farewell; a loneliness swept over us as his plane lifted above the water and then out of sight.



Native School



Ice Cream at the Band Store



Goodbye to John