Locals may have seen a floating building being towed through the harbour or spotted it docked in Crab Park. V.I.A. investigated and learned that it’s called “Ocean House” — a new luxury resort destined for its first summer season in Haida Gwaii.
The 12-room floating lodge is owned and operated by Haida Enterprise Corporation (HaiCo), which refurbished one of their existing fishing lodges over a period of 18 months to create a luxury ecotourism and cultural experience for travellers.
HaiCo marketing coordinator Samantha Rullin says there is a “growing demand for tourism on Haida Gwaii” and Ocean House builds on the popularity of the company’s Haida House at Tllaal, which is booked up early every year.
Ocean House will be towed up the coast in a journey that’s expected to take at least 12 days, crossing through Hecate Strait to Stads K’uns GawGa, which is a remote location on the west coast of the island accessible by helicopter.
The culinary program is designed by Edi Szasz, who cooked for the Royal Family when they visited Haida Gwaii and will incorporate foods from local supplier Haida Wild Seafood, including razor clams, crab, prawns, halibut and salmon. Visitors will have the chance to participate in guided forest walks, a tour of Security Inlet or Kaisun Village and go kayaking.
A carving studio in the lodge provides travellers a chance to meet Haida artists and learn more about their cultural traditions. Rullin says the lodge’s remote location provides access to a village site where 300 people used to live in the 1800s with two totem poles that are still standing.
