QUEEN FOR A DAY

Positioned off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, Haida Gwaii proves to be an intoxicating waypoint.

- HERB MCCORMICK

AFTER A FORTNIGHT UNDERWAY and with 500 rugged nautical miles in our wake, in late June, our Cal 40, Dancing Bear, nudged up to the dock in the little British Columbian burg of Daajing Giids, formerly known as Queen Charlotte City. I tossed our dock lines to a helpful young man named Max, who'd scrambled over from his little cruising sailboat to help us tie up. On the pier, Max was boiling up a potful of crab. He even had some butter, garlic and saffron sauteing alongside. The aroma was mesmerizing. ¶ We'd just completed a winding cruise from Anacortes, Washington, through the remote archipelago of Haida Gwaii (the former Queen Charlotte Islands), the last week of which was in true wilderness, where we'd shared the protected cruising grounds and nature preserve with whales, eagles, bears, sea otters, Sitka deer, elk, racoons and assorted other creatures, none of whom were humans. In fact, we hadn't encountered a single other soul the entire week. Daajing Giids, the onetime queen of this region, has a population of around a mere 1,000