By Tara Davis, reporting from a National Geographic Young Explorers-funded expedition to sea kayak and explore the unique cultural heritage of British Columbia's Haida Gwaii archipelago. Photographs by Lauren Sinnott and Julia DeWitt.
At dawn, paddling the east coast of Moresby island, Haida Gwaii. The sun rises in the west as the night’s silhouette slips beneath the shape of Helmet island, one of 150 that make up the most remote archipelago on the west coast of Canada. Located 50 sea miles east of British Columbia and 40 miles south of Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, Haida Gwaii stands on the outer edge of the continental shelf surrounded by ocean to the south and west. This shallow straight is known as the Hecate, Siigaay in Skidegate Haida language, and it is a notorious stretch of the Pacific. It gathers polar storms and generates swells that rock fisherman, sailors, and kayakers alike.