Punting

One of the first things I was told about my position here was "Oh, if you're hired you'll get to go seaweed picking."

Today I did.

Every year the Heiltsuk language department arranges a trip out to Chugwais to pick seaweed. All I had to do was show up at the wharf and help supervise. My class met down at the government dock around nine o'clock which was about the time I discovered that my camera's battery had died. So sadly no pictures.

The kid's were VERY excited some of them had been awake since 6 a.m.
As I walked down the pier one of the teachers looked me up and down and said "You're dressed like a tourist, you're gonna freeze."

Oh Balls.

I had worn four layers, a raincoat and my gum boots. Still when everyone else arrived I could see I was underdressed  Most of the kids were wearing two or three pairs of pants/leggings, some had rain pants, others were wearing so many tops that they looked like tiny body builders or michelin men. Part of the fun was laughing at each other. One of the girls was wearing high heel gum boots and one of the boys was dressed entirely in his father's clothes -this made him look like a leprechaun in giant's pants. This was not a fashion conscious outing.

When the head language teacher arrived we followed her onto the three waiting punts. All three of the punt drivers were related to the kids, two of them were dads.

I LOVE being on the water and as we headed out towards Chugwais I was absolutely beaming. The kids were all excited and giggling and although it was a bit cold sitting out there in the wind we were having a great time.

It took us about an hour to reach our destination and the disembarkation was a big part of the adventure. The punts slowly motored up to a rocky outcrop and we had to climb out of the aluminium boats out onto seaweed covered slick rocks, while ground swells rocked the boat up and down. Yesterday another class made the trip and someone had a bad fall when a wave hit the boat at the wrong time.

We all made it safe and sound and the kids who landed ashore started picking seaweed the minute their feet touched the rocks. The Heiltsuk teacher showed me how, you reach under the plant put your hand around it and pull upward and it comes off quite easily. There is good seaweed and bad seaweed, I don't know the names for either. Heh. The bad stuff is the small heart shaped kind that you pop when you were a kid. The good stuff is dark greeny-brown, long and kind of looks like cooked spinach.

One of my really troubled students took to seaweed picking like wildfire. Before I had even picked a bag he was on his third. He got a lot of positive attention today and it was really nice to see. One of the punt drivers was his Dad and he got to spend some much needed bonding time with him.

Here and there I could hear my students gleefully pointing out anemones, starfish, crabs, and all kinds of sea life.

As we were finishing the winds started to pick up and we hurried to get all of our harvest off of the island. By then we had been out there for about three hours and I could no longer feel my toes. Getting back onto the boats was daunting and one of the drivers brought his much smaller boat in to ferry us out to the larger boats. Soon however we were on our respective punts and on our way.

Then we stopped, then we were on our way, then we stopped. Our puzzled driver came out of the tiny captain's cabin and looked at us. Very cold, myself and the students had all huddled together under the cabin's window and I had two kids resting against me. Turns out I had been pushed back by the weight of the kids, onto one of the rubber engine pipes which had caused it to bend in such a way that no air was getting where it needed to be. My big butt had stopped us in the water!

No worries as soon as I changed seats we were on the move again.

The driver's son disappeared into the tiny cabin and reappeared 5 minutes later wearing all of his layers PLUS his Dad's rain coveralls, long underwear,  and the language teacher's jacket, AND his life jacket, he could barely move he was sooooooooo cozy.  So many giggles and laughs from the kids.

As we headed back two of the kids saw a whale breach for air!
We stopped briefly at a beautiful bay where there had once been a settlement. The kids made a bonfire and went on adventures while the adults sat on the beach and ate cheese and crackers.

All in all a very good day. We made it home in time for dismissal. My face and hands are wind burnt but it was totally worth it.

Tomorrow the kids will be hanging the seaweed out to dry during their language class time.