In a journey that already connects to a deep sense of community and spirituality, the Tribal Canoe Journey that stops in Port Townsend today connects another group even more.
They are survivors.
The Port Angeles group traveling in the canoe “Healing Voyage” — which is awaiting the arrival of canoes from the east — will use pink paddles to celebrate those who have survived cancer and remembering those who succumbed to it.
The front seat in the 10-person canoe is left empty for those cancer patients who have died, Roberta “Birdie” Kimberly said.
“That is their seat, those who have passed on,” she said.