National Geographic Sea Lion remained tied up, dockside through the evening. Sunrise brought us another sunny day with much lower winds than days previous. The adventure began with a short ride to the Haida Heritage Center, where we were divided into three groups, each of which would take us into a short exploration of the art and craft of this segment of the northwest coast. Cedar-weaving with Gladys Vandal, form line drawing with Ron Wilson, and a weaving demonstration with Evelyn Vanderhoop were all offered. The three artists are highly regarded and have been recognized worldwide for their contributions to bringing regional coastal art and its Haida form out into the world.
We all had the better part of two hours to spend with these well-known artists, getting a very good idea of how much work is involved in making art so incredibly full with traditions going back thousands of years.
We all returned to the ship for lunch and then had the afternoon to spend as we wished! Some us chose to relax, taking an afternoon to absorb all that has been presented over the last nine days! A smaller group returned to the cultural center to learn about another art form of the Haida, while some of us returned to Spirit Lake for a long hike in the forest.
All aboard come 5 p.m. Slowly National Geographic Sea Lion left Queen Charlotte Village harbor and headed northeast toward the mainland of Canada. We were heading toward the second leg of our voyage, entering back into the US and the state of Alaska.
