BCAA

SAN RAFAEL'S HISTORIC NOOTKA Light Station stands adjacent to where, in 1778, Captain James Cook landed at Yuquot — which he called Friendly Cove — to establish the British claim to what would become British Columbia. (opposite) The Uchuck III passenger freighter makes a once-a-week summer run from Gold River to Yuquot; in the mid-1800s, Yuquot's beachfront was lined with the longhouses and ceremonial crests of the Mowachaht. Nootka lightkeeper Mark Tiglmann. by Daniel Wood p28-31_Lighthouse.indd 28 H e has seen almost everything nature can hurl at Canada's west coast. There have been sustained winds of nearhurricane force that seemed to last for days, and he feared going outside and being blown into the Pacific. There have been earthquakes and tsunami alerts and stormpropelled waves so big that the air beyond the lighthouse was liquefied and the ocean in the rocky bay directly below became a cauldron of roiling foam. There have been mayday calls from mariners needing urgent help. There have been bears by the helicopter pad, and a belligerent 500-kilogram sea lion in his moored boat, and yesterday a two-metre cougar was in the yard, probably hoping to turn yappy Missi or Lucy or Smoke-the-Cat into lunch. But there are days at Nootka Sound when affable, chain-smoking Mark Tiglmann, 60, circles inside his San Rafael Island home as the sun clears the forested ridges to the east and, coffee cup in hand, surveys what is likely the most spectacular panorama afforded by any home in Canada. Pods of 1/27/12 8:27:58 AM

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