The Passage

 Discovery Passage on a hot May day. Named in 1847 by one Captain Henry Kellet after Captain Vancouver's ship, the HMS Discovery ,which toddled around these waters around 1792. Quadra Island is at the eastern shore with Sonora Island on the west. The first settlers were from the West Coast Salish people. ( Weiwaikum of the Campbell River Band  are on the Vancouver Island  side, with the Weiwaikai on Cape Mudge of  Quadra Island. )

 At low tide it's hard to tell,  but the passage has whirlpool currents of up to 16 knots at Seymour Narrows , which is the most narrow point. Discovery  is about 14 kilometres long and is known as the most important shipping passage between Alaska and  south to Washington state.  In the summer, I've seen countless cruise ships bobble through the passage,back and forth.

     Campbell River is known as the "Salmon Capitol of the World". Well, the world comes here, I am sure of it. I had no idea until the past while, just how many tourists toddle in and out of town , all summer long. They park their RV's camp overnight. Often you will see campers loading up with supplies for a trip, into the rainforest, or to the ocean, or to the mountains.

Often you will also see the heron, down at the boat ramp, watching and waiting as he fishes from the shore.

  Cape Mudge Lighthouse on Quadra Island , 100 years old in 1998. The island has a really relaxed lifestyle. People take the little ferry, back and forth, in rain, mist, fog, wind.

 Many people live  take the ferry over to Campbell River for "town days". A town day is time to do everything in one fell swoop.

 Tyee Fishing is known far and wide in the area. I never really paid much attention , until  I noticed that  records of salmon being caught were published in the newspaper, on a regular basis.A tyee  is what a chinook salmon is called when it reaches 13.5 Kg ( 30 pounds). The catch : you have to use a single artificial hook , cast from a rowboat. Weigh in is at Tyee spit.

       

               Campbell River has been the site of many movies. The scouts must have loved all the coastline and dripping rainforest . Movies such as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,Seven Years in Tibet, and The Scarlett Letter. Seems like everyone comes here at one time, enticed by the promise of the best salmon fishing, and probably the vast wilderness of the Passage.