real places:looking at Hartley Bay George McCutcheon
i. I N my work, I have had the good fortune to travel to and do work in Hartley Bay, a small village of 200 people loca- ted at the mouth of a small river at the junction of the Greenville and Douglas Channels, Prince Rupert 150km northeast along the Greenville Channel and Kitimat 100km along the Douglas Channel. The village is only accessible by water or, as I have arrived by float plane. Regular flights leave Prince Rupert at noon, land at about one, and return to Rupert immediately. Usually I travel with other consultants and we charter in, leaving when the sun rises in the winter months and returning before the sun sets. In the winter this allows us about 6 hours in the village. The float planes have no radar, so if you are unable to see through the air to where you are going then you do not fly. We have the float plane wait for us, we know that if we get in then we will get out. This is a strange way to travel, the economics of business dictate how much time we are able to spend here. We are greeted as returning old friends as we rush around, nosying into one space or another. With the charter we are always the visitor passing through. Sometimes villagers travel with us, there is always business to do in Rupert or beyond. Occasionally, work dictates an overnight and one experien- ces a different pace to village time.
ii.
Riding out around an island into the Greenville Channel. Once in the channel I feel the smallness of the boat and the four of us. The ocean is narrow but deep and in the calm we trawl along with 2 lines 50 feet down waiting for salmon. We see a cloud, streaking the sky ahead, come toward us and we rush to reinstall the roof. The clouds that touch the water pass and the wind that drove the clouds leaves a stream of small waves. A ferry passes.The waves from the wake roll the boat. Each swell from the ferry contains 4 or 5 of the small waves from the cloud. After the boat has passed the sky clears and the ocean grows calmer and calmer. I am acutely aware of the great peacefulness of the ocean. Where comes our focus on storms and disaster. Considering the power contained within this huge body wrapping the planet, the ocean is at peace.The tides move inconceivable masses with great gentleness. I am dumfounded in the presence of this power and honoured to be in this strange unfamiliar place.
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