This is a momentous day for me. I received proofs, or galleys, of my soon to be released memoir Into The Planet. It is starting to feel very real. Pre-orders...
Read More
In February at Hornby Island, British Columbia, Stellar and California Sea Lions rest on the rocks while they await their favorite time of year. In a matter of a few...
Read More
This morning I met with students from classrooms across North America to share the underwater geography of Canada. This month women explorers will share their work on Exploring by The Seat of Your Pants online classroom sessions. 50 hangouts will reach hundreds of classrooms around the world! Check out the archive if you missed my talk!
Ojibwe grandmother Josephine Mandamin, Wikwemikong First Nation, has walked more than 10,000 miles in five years, along the banks of the Great Lakes and other waterways. As founder of the...
Read More
On October 25, I had the opportunity to attend and present a keynote speech at the Aqua Hacking Challenge Finals in Toronto, Canada. The event, sponsored by the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation is in its fourth year and was presented as a part of Ontario’s Water Innovation Week. At the challenge, five finalist teams of university students competed for a chance to win $50,000 in prizes and a spot working with local incubators. So far the challenge has spawned over 60 engineering and tech-related solutions with 15 on the market or in development. The interdisciplinary student groups are paired with…
My oldest friend Dr. Jaqueline Windh and I stumble through the forest that is damp with yellow fall foliage and arrive on the cobbled bank of the Quinsam River. We’ve known each other for 50 years and still love the same things we did as kids: getting dirty and observing the natural beauty of our extraordinary world. This reunion is an opportunity to celebrate our friendship and observe the remarkable cycle of life of the various salmon species that make British Columbia their home. Beneath the glassy surface of the fast moving water, eighty or more salmon turn their heads…
It is raining hard with a 35-knot wind pouring downslope from the coastal mountains into Bute Inlet. A fresh frosting of snow dusts the peaks with the season’s first freeze. We brace ourselves in the aluminum boat which is pounding over broken waves. Most other vessels have turned back today, unable to fight the combined forces of the wind and furious tidal currents that cycle in violent whirlpools and back eddies. But we are determined to reach the traditional territory of the Homlco Xwe’malhkwu Peoples in Bute Inlet. Like other Coastal First Nation peoples, the Homalco are stewards of the…
Carl Tremblay has the ocean in his eyes. From the moment you step onto his small aluminum cabin cruiser in Saguenay Fjord, you know this is a man who has a lot of passion for his job. “I love this place,” he says with childlike wonderment. While our captain readies the boat and goes through a quick safety briefing, Tremblay pulls out a sizeable spiral-bound book filled with photos of wildlife that he has taken. He spends a few minutes sharing each photo, carefully describing how I will find these things and how big they are. Some the size on…
The Canadian steamship Homer Warren has been sitting on the bottom of Lake Ontario for nearly one hundred years. In 2003, shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville located the wrecked remains using side scan sonar equipment, but it was careful research that led them to the right location. Using newspaper accounts, witness reports and weather data, they pieced together a hypothesis about where the ship came to rest. To confirm the find, Dan Scoville made solo dives to document the wreck with his video camera. Now fifteen years later, Jill Heinerth and Teddy Garlock have brought back the first…
It’s a long journey from Ontario to the little dive shack on Highway 138, just north of the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. Eight hours of roadway are more beautiful with every turn that I make in my trusty Subaru Outback. The multi-lane highway surrenders to winding a coastal road along the St. Lawrence River’s north shore and pauses briefly at a ferry crossing at Baie St. Catherine. The trees are showing a rusty hint of fall as the stiff breeze ushers in a cold, foggy wind. I cross over the bay in building white caps and…