I agree there would be several problems there. If not for the fact my deceased lawyer friend was about to invest a small fortune for this expedition I would have been somewhat sceptical myself.
Actually my own personal thoughts on this is that when the Japanese took a shot at the Aleutians they perhaps decided to house another landing point for later useage. Then when driven out of the Aleutians they left there existing subs and such there due to the allied presence being a bit more intense. It is hard to accurately say why they were there and only finding them again may answer this question. I can quite agree with you on the BC coast being sparsely populated and would assume that they would have been discovered by now, although there are still areas untouched by man. Perhaps they have been. I can get no answer out of the DND nor Coast Guard on this. I try and keep an open mind on this as they are still finding subs in places where never thought...Hawaii, Eastern seaboard, etc. As for the map, it was the only one I could find showing the route to the Aleutians. If you have a more accurate one I would appreciate seeing it. I do have maps and such on the actual lines in Attu, but was more interested in the Naval route taken.

Here you go. It contains both Operation MI and AL forces and routes taken.

__________________
"Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Powder is scarce and must not be wasted. Fire low! You are all marksmen and could kill a squirrel at a hundred yards. Reserve your fire and the enemy will all be destroyed! - Israel Putnam, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775
"War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others." - Karl von Clausewitz

Thanks, much appreciated.

I agree there is information about these events that is missing. Are the records of the i-26 available?

I live in N.W. Washington, the home of the fishing fleet that travel the "inside passage" (between Vancouver Island and The Canadian Mainland" on the way to the fishing grounds in Alaska. There are also hundreds of pleasure craft that leave from here to sail along the B.C. coast to do a little thing called "gunkholing" putting into every cove and inlet possible to anchor and explore (myself included, but I don't venture too far north). I got the opinion from several fisherman and pleasure boaters about the Japanese hiding two subs and two float planes between here and Alaska and they were all at the opinion that if they did, they would be hidden underwater. I know this doesn't prove anything. What's the old saying, "it's difficult to prove a negative". I'd love to hear that they were found, but I'm not holding my breath.