Darryl Penn is the head of the Quileute Marina here at La Push. His tiny office seems to serve as a place of gossip, social gathering, and information center as much as it does marina business. I assume he gets stressed but he’s not inclined to show it. I did see him thank a young girl traveling with her grandfather for not being one the multitude of teenage girls interested in Twilight, of which we saw several flocks of noted by their matching tee shirts. He tells me he has mixed feelings about it. More tourism good but how long can a movie obsession last? Maybe they will just keep making more. I did find out that according to their ancient creation story that they were transformed into wolves so it seems that Stephanie Meyer was lucky to have such a great local story to fold into a vampire drama. I have not seen or read it yet but I imagine that they don’t really go into other Quileute traditions such making canoes out of single trees big enough to haul three tons of supplies with water lines. Allegedly these were so well designed that they were inspiration for American clipper ships. The tribe, along with a many of the tribes along the Salish Sea still go on many weeklong canoe journeys every year.
We grab a greasy breakfast with Joel at the Rivers Edge, the one and only restaurant in town where we ate dinner the night before. I eat biscuits drowned in gravy. This is probably the last thing…
I should eat before heading out on the water but I can’t help myself. We meet an older woman named Bev. She is one of the locals and The River’s Edge seems to be her roost. She strikes up a conversation with Joel and by the end of the meal she has hunted down Emily, chief editor, reporter in the field, photographer etc of “The Talking Raven,” the monthly newsletter of the Quileute. We chat for a bit, making some new friends and show them the boat before its time to go.
Darryl is the man driving Joel out to follow us to take pictures and film. I’ve been talking with him for a few weeks and everything seems to be coming together. It’s a calm day, leaving the Quileute marina and more importantly no fog, high grey clouds are above us, and it’s still bright. I have mixed feelings. It would be nice to have waves and swells for dramatic photographs but all the common sense in me drains any vanity. It’s just dumb to wish for anything but calm weather because bad weathers going to happen. Yet it would be convenient if Joel were there to shoot it when it happens. Nothing can be demanded of nature. Joel gets great shots anyway perched on the bow of Darryl’s friend’s tough looking green aluminum boat getting great shots of the looming sea stacks around us His cousin sleeps in the back of the boat occasionally waking up to enhance some good-natured heckling. Once Joel gets his shots he, Darryl and Darryl’s brother say good-bye and we make our way down the coast.