A local historian is guiding boat tours of Northern Howe Sound with hopes of stimulating marine tourism.
Armed with vast knowledge of Squamish heritage and extraordinary enthusiasm, Eric Andersen joined 10 people on a Squamish Marine Services water taxi to visit old burial sites, mysterious rock paintings and other historical landmarks on Sunday (May 24).
It was the second such tour he's organized, and Andersen expects to offer more as he continues to gauge interest. The boat tours open a window to a world most local residents rarely experience, he said.
"You drive along the highway and all you see is rock. But there're stories in the rock," he said, adding Squamish should develop a marine tourism industry based on heritage and ecology.
"Definitely Squamish is being reintroduced to the water. It deserves to have that product - boats tours of Northern Howe Sound should be a given."
Andersen said his ultimate goal is to partner with Squamish Marine Services and local environmental groups to develop an interpretive brochure and map to encourage out-of-towners to explore local waters.
Squamish Marine Services manager Chris Tamburri said he is enjoying Andersen's input and is all for helping his water tourism initiative flourish.
"I've been enjoying that perspective for 37 years and now it's time to share it," said Tamburri. "I like to say we're putting the Sea in Sea to Sky country."
Since Howe Sound is part of an ancient coast-interior travel corridor, the area is filled with notable sites like the location where Squamish people spotted the first European vessel and where Cpt. George Vancouver and crew are believed to have camped during their explorations.
Perhaps the most interesting site is near Furry Creek where paintings, or pictographs, mark the rock walls. The history behind the pictographs is uncertain, according to Andersen, but the red pigment is common among pictographs in Coastal Salish territory and easily produced.
The pigment material was mixed with either eulachon grease or salmon eggs to a make a paste and the images are protected from weathering by natural surface deposit on the rock face.
The pictographs' ages are unknown, however some long time locals claim to have heard of their presence all their lives.
"It's a good thing it wasn't in the way of the railway because the railway would have just blasted though," said Andersen.
Squamish Chamber of Commerce director Stephen Drinkwater, who had a seat on the water taxi, said the tour not only reinforces the economic opportunities that are available on the water, it also reminds him of the area's encompassing splendour.
"My favourite part is the beauty and the different perspectives you have of the location," said Drinkwater, "because you're between the mountains and you're looking up and you can appreciate it all, as opposed to being on one side and looking at the other side."
Boat tours cost $20 and are by demand so those interested can contact Andersen at [email protected].
