In true fall fashion I have come straight off my vacation and directly into the field for a few days to visit the fish and the people who work with them in a fairly remote part of the province.
I had to laugh when I was walking out to the plane at YVR, because the guy ahead of me, a young First Nations fellow, had a box of Tim Horton’s donuts under one arm, and a box of TimBits in a bag in the other hand. I commented and he smiled and said he still hoped that someday the area might get one. I laughed because I’ve brought them in with me, for the crew, on occasion.
It was raining when I got up this morning, and I know there is rain in the forecast for the Central Coast this week, and the flight up was cloudy most of the way, at least until we came close to the plateau, which was where a mountain finally poked its head through the white blanket below.
Usually the drop into the valley is pretty quick and spectacular, but today the flight path took us down the entire length, which was unusual. It did afford a pretty spectacular close view of a good sized fire burning in one of the perpendicular valleys, or at least the smoke from it, which was roiling below.
I’d received a text while I was still at YVR that had given me a heads up that I was needed as soon as I landed. When I arrived I was picked up, made a quick stop at the grocery store to grab a pasta salad for lunch back at the hatchery, and then was asked to gear up and jump in the pond to help with a quick sort and subsequent spawn of a few ripe females. That’s what I am here for, to get to work and lend a hand wherever I can.
The field crews came back with some coolers of eggs and milt and did their fertilizations and got everything to bed in the incubators before I had access to a vehicle. A little more than I needed to go get some groceries, and certainly not exactly incognito….but doesn’t everyone need an F350 with a transport tank and an oxygen bottle to go get a few days worth of groceries?
I’ve been coming up here regularly since about 2012, with a couple of trip prior to then. Since 2012 or 2013, I think I’ve only missed one year, 2020, for obvious reasons. I appreciate that I am useful while I am here, and it’s always nice that there is a phrase I hear repeatedly when I get here.
Welcome back.
Back to Bella Coola.
