The opening of Sea Wolf Adventures last week at Telegraph Cove marks a win-win-win scenario for both North Islanders and seasonal visitors to the region.
The historic boardwalk “village” annually draws both short-stay tourists and a regular group of summer dwellers to fish, shop, dine, sightsee and generally enjoy the ambiance of the picturesque coast.
But the one thing lacking at the former telegraph station, fish saltery and lumber mill has been a First Nations presence. Visitors might well have been at a coastal resort in Washington or Northern California.
But Mike Willie changed all that with the opening of Sea Wolf Adventures, a cultural tour boat operation tied to the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay and the cultivated cedar “garden” of Hanson Island.
Now, with just a brief, 10-minute cruise by water taxi, guests will be delivered into the heart of a culture that existed here centuries before Europeans brought their telegraph and their sawmills.
To a time when Telegraph Cove was know as ’Tugwaxsu, or “Narrow Entrance” in the Kwak’wala tongue.
We agree with Telegraph Cove owner Gordie Graham — this is good for business, it’s good for the tourists, and it’s good for the first peoples of our region.