PORT ANGELES — One by one they rounded City Pier on Monday, forming a great waterborne circle off Hollywood Beach.
One by one they came ashore, solemnly asking permission to land.
And one by one they received it — first in the Klallam language, then in English — from young members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Three and one-half hours after the first canoes landed at about 2:30 p.m., the host tribe’s own “Elwha Lightning” glided past the 55 other Native American and Canadian First Nations watercraft that were hauled onto the sand.
The 2005 Tribal Canoe Journey — the Paddle to Elwha — had ended . . . and begun.
Welcomed to Port Angeles were the Lummi and the Samish from North Puget Sound, the Swinomish, Skokomish, Tulalip and Nooksack.
From the South Sound came the Puyallup, Squaxin and Muckleshoot.
The Quinault, Hoh, Makah and Quileute had paddled up Washington’s Pacific Coast.
Gesture of peace
As each canoe came to the beach, its pullers raised their fluke-shaped paddle blades in a gesture of peace.
“We are honored to be here in your beautiful land,” said the speaker for the first two craft, Aleut three-person sealskin bidarkas from St. Paul Island, Alaska.
“It is a very good day you have arrived here at Tse-whit-zen,” came the answer.
“We are here to remember our sacred ancestors on this day. Come ashore, come ashore, my friends.”
Earlier Monday, the canoes’ arrival had been thrown off by high westerly winds on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The U.S. Coast Guard called back to Jamestown about 30 canoes that had stayed there Sunday night.
Even so, two canoes from Puget Sound were blown back onto Dungeness Spit later Monday.
Canoes leaving Vancouver Island also were delayed by about an hour, and a few of them were hoisted aboard their support boat due to the rough waters.
A few others remained in Canada for another day.