Hot Spring Island

Although the Hot Spring dried up after the earthquake that shock the island 3 years ago, they have slowly been returning. Today there is a perfect pool for kids and a barrel to soak in water as hot as you wish it to be. We splashed in the pool then headed to the barrel ‘tub’ to wash up and warm up.

We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves. One of the watchmen, Clayton, was carving a small eagle totem. After chatting with him for a bit we struck a deal. He would carve us a small paddle and in exchange we would given him the large abalone shell we found in California. We were to return tomorrow to complete the trade. Haida have a long history of trading for Californina abalone. They grow much bigger than their northern counterpart and as such have thicker shell that can be worked into many types of art. That night was incredibly wild. We were on the mooring ball at Ramsay Bay  and the wind was howling. We had 20 knots in our little bay and it was forecasted to blow 40 in the straight. We were jerking around like a wild stallion at its bit on our short mooring line and I could not sleep a wink. And it was pouring buckets. I kept envisioning us breaking free and smashing the rocks at our stern. Needless to say we had a slow morning. At some point we realized we had left one of Fynn’s toys at Windy Bay. The wind had abated but the seas remained substantial so Kolby took Otto down to pick it up by himself. We returned to Hot Spring at about 1 pm and Clayton was just putting the finishing touches on the paddle. It was lovely. He was also happy with the shell so the deal worked out well for both of us.  We had found our paddle and have a lovely story to go with it.