![]() ![]() They will also explore the Nootka Island whaling site British explorer Capt. Windh said she and her husband plan to stop at Homais Cove where the Spanish ship Santiago arrived in 1774 and first traded with Indigenous people. “We probably won't see anyone who's living there for the first two weeks we're out,” she said. Windh said once the expedition reaches the southern end of the Tatchu Peninsula a boat will take them to Nootka Island and the Hesquiat Peninsula, where they will make stops at Indigenous whaling communities and villages that are now almost completely uninhabited. The nearest community is Zeballos, almost 500 kilometres northwest of Victoria. “The order we're going, north to south, it's kind of roughly chronological with the history of the early Spanish encounters,” said Windh, who estimates the entire trip will cover about 220 kilometres.Ī float plane will take the couple to Rugged Point, where they will begin their journey hiking and kayaking along the Tatchu Peninsula, located on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. Windh said she's calling her voyage “The Secret Coast” and it received support from the Spanish Embassy in Canada, which highlighted the expedition on its arts and culture website. ![]() Spanish ships arrived on the outer coastal areas of Vancouver Island in the 1770s before the British, she said, adding they were searching for trade routes. Spain and England almost came to war over this new territory.” “I thought it was weird, all the Spanish names here. “I had no idea there was even a Spanish presence here,” said Windh, who arrived in B.C. She pointed to Cortez, Galiano, Gabriola islands, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and even Port Alberni, where she lives, as places on Vancouver Island named after Spanish explorers and dignitaries. Most Canadians are aware of Canada's British and French colonial history, but the Spanish connections aren't as well-known despite many West Coast islands, communities and waterways bearing Spanish names, said Windh. Jacqueline Windh, a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and her husband, Dave Gilbert, plan to hike and kayak the now virtually uninhabited outer coastal areas of Vancouver Island. VICTORIA - Two British Columbia kayakers are set to depart from a remote Vancouver Island beach known as Rugged Point on Sunday for a month-long voyage retracing the passage Spanish explorers took in the late 1700s. ![]()
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