Salmon are Sacred, Sontuila is Special...

As we form an assembly line down the slippery seaweed covered rocks, the boat gets loaded on something called Paul Spong time (PST), and a hasty departure is made from Hanson a few minutes later. Wow, what an amazing time it has been on this paradise island that Paul and Helena have called home for so many years. So much to learn, so quickly the time goes, I know we will be back soon and ready to assist in the many labours of love this place entails. For now I just appreciate the adventure we are on, and their willingness to help us in any and every way they can. The relaxing time we spent has left us with massive grins as we make a very choppy b-line for Alert Bay to collect our bikes and set off on the next leg of the journey.

We arrive in Sointula at 1:30 pm and leave at 4:30pm the same day, feeling like we spent a year getting to know the town and its wonderful people. Down to the very last second before boarding the ferry, we are welcomed and gifted by every person we meet. Starting with Will Salto, who comes into The Living Oceans Society (on his day off!) to walk us through the proposed tanker route and the tides, currents, and hazards that would be potential threats. Wow, what a greater understanding we gain, it’s suddenly all a lot more real and the Northern waters feel closer than ever. 

A Wifi mission to the library throws us back in time, into the Museum, and we discover what looks like a collection of everybody’s best basement findings. Ferry reservation fast approaching, we take off on our horses, never having appreciated modern technology’s convenience so much before now.

We are only meters from the ferry dock when we meet Pete, who offers us local wild Finish smoked salmon bellies. Pete is great, and leads us to his brother Dave’s house about a block up the street where we are welcomed by more Malcom Island originals, enjoying the sunshiney Friday afternoon. Dave is one of the passionate voices in the Salmon are Sacred campaign, led by Alex Morton, and tells us about the walk from Port Hardy to Victoria to raise awareness about the fish farming that is threatening the local salmon ecology. 

We board the ferry laughing and astonished at the jam packed few hours we just spent meeting some of the most helpful people of the trip. Of course, on the ferry we meet a few more characters, BC ferries’ very own James and Paul, who share with us their experiences of being on and around the waters, and pump us up with their cheer. We are laden with semi-frozen salmon as we make our way out of Port McNeill, one final stop at the Mackay’s to share our gifted salmon and thank them once more for their hospitality.

Late in the day as usual, we start down the last stretch of highway 19 towards Port Hardy, and into the golden sunset. We are headed to the ferry terminal at Bear Cove, a very suitable name from what we’ve heard along the trail. After we ride past three black bears, the bag of delicious salmon is becoming entirely too much like bait and we stop to have a picnic below the “(Welcome to) Port Hardy, Live the Adventure” sign. Oh yeah… we are living the adventure this summer, and we fall asleep under the stars ready for a 5am start to catch the ferry up the coast and begin the next leg of the journey!

Hanson

"ORCA! ORCCAAA!" the call skips across the crystalline cove and suddenly the scene is alive with people running from all directions towards the observation deck hanging out over the ocean. The rhythmic thu-thud-thu-thud of the axe stops, the wood dropped beside the chopping block; dinner preparations are abandoned - the whales are here! The bay is calm and the anticipation hangs heavy in the still air as the family of black fins slide into sight. They move with so much mystery, weaving through the current in the fading light.

I glance around at the group of people gazing through the scopes on the deck - they have all been brought here to Hanson Island by these giant sea-beings, some of them studying biology, others simply in love with animals. The Orcalab has been bringing people together from around the world for decades. The lab is perched on the same rocky outcropping Paul Spong first pitched his tent on in 1970, following the whale trail, after rejecting the idea that great wild beings can be studied from the confines of an aquarium tank. Out of a vision to study the whales in their natural environment based on listening and learning, the Orcalab has been slowly and carefully woven into the island around it.

Here and now, life orbits entirely around the whales - everywhere you walk a live-feed of sea sounds captured by a series of underwater microphones, plays. It is our first day here, and we have been blessed, visited by the orcas.

As the light dies, the rhythm of Hanson Island picks back up, with big smiles all around. We listen on the hydraphones to the calls, and their song is as mysterious as the dance earlier in the bay. Spiraling calls echo between the whales, eerie whistles that slip and scatter through the room, as I gaze into the flames in the wood heater. The spell cast by these great ocean voices lasts into the night, and hours are lulled away in the fire and song.

Paul is a grandfather who recently walked into my life, bringing with him a magical island, and a world of whales that sparked a deep passion for our oceans in me. It's up to us to speak up for the whales, the waters and all the creatures who have no voice in our human world, and to protect them from projects like the Enbridge Pipeline, so we can keep listening and learning to the voice of the wild.

www.orcalab.org
www.orca-live.net (to listen to the live-feed from the hydraphones)

Thank you so much Helena and Paul for your kind hospitality, great food, and happy spirits!

What Goes Up Must Come Down...

The climb out of Campbell River is long and hot, the road stretching ahead at a relentless incline. It's a bit of a shock after the sleepy island traffic of Quadra and Cortes to get back on the highway, with the summer crowd, loaded with boats, campers and giant trucks, barreling past us on their way to the beach. The further north we travel, the bigger the trucks seem to get - maybe it's just because we're thinking a lot about the oil industry, or because we're on bikes, but our collective addiction to the black gold has never seemed so alive.

Suddenly, just past Sayward, with a horrible hissssss, Tyese's back tire explodes, bringing us and our bikes to a standstill beside the road. The sun beats down on us as we survey the damage - the back tire has been torn by a rusty L-shaped chunk of metal on the shoulder. So, like true Canadians, we get out the roll of duct tape and patch the tire as best we can, and replace the shredded tube. We need a new tire, and Port McNeill is the closest town with a bike shop, so we pedal tentatively north, our wounded bike limping badly, the rest of the weight piled high on the other rat trap. It's obvious we won't make it the whole way with a duct tape patch, but as long as the back tire is still holding air, we're stubborn not to have to take a ride in one of the passing trucks. Eventually it's clear we're going to have to give in if we want to make it to Port McNeill before nightfall, and when a kind Port Hardy local offers us a ride as we rest beside a little waterfall trickling from the forest, we accept the ride. The drive in is a blur from the cab of the truck, we've become so used to the speed of a bicycle.

In Port McNeill, we stay with the Mackay family, who have been running a whale watching company in the area for more than thirty years. It feels so good to be landed after such a long day, but we realize quickly that somewhere in the chaos we lost our camera and all the campaign footage so far. The blown tire was intense, but its a temporary problem - losing the camera is harder to deal with. Bill and Donna are sympathetic, and entertain us with wild stories of life on the water. From calm sunny days watching huge pods of orcas spyhop and breach around the Niad, to life and death situations where the fate of a sinking boat, or a drowning sailor rests entirely on their ability to stay calm and act fast. 

It puts the whole day into perspective for us, we just have to let it go and hope that a kind stranger finds the camera and sends it back to us.

Stay calm, be brave, wait for the signs...

On the Edge

Spontaneous leaps of faith almost always lead to beautiful places, but this one leaves me breathless. After waking up in Campbell River with a killer hangover, and walking back into the heat wave, we take the advice of a kind passing stranger and choose to ferry over to Quadra Island rather than tackling Capital Hill - a six kilometer climb stretching between us and Sayward. Now, after a mad dash for the beach on our heavily loaded bikes, and an icy plunge into the crystal waves, we sit on the smooth sands of Rebecca Spit and eat an entire head of lettuce. Life is good.

In Quathiaski Cove, we speak to a local woman named Ingrid who tells us about the potential for tidal energy farms in Discovery Passage between Campbell River and Quadra. Becuase the tidal currents run from 7 - 10 knots and the slack tides are short, this is an ideal spot to gather renewable energy from the gravitational energy of the moon. I think about this as we drift to sleep beneath the stars - what's keeping us from making the transition into these types of sustainable energy?

Where water and fire meet, light blooms into colour and, on the stretch of water between Quadra and Cortes, we look up to a massive rainbow encircling the sun. It's exciting and reassuring to see the great spectrum in the sky - we've taken a chance stepping out of the planned itinerary, but it's clear that we're exactly where we're meant to be. 

A sign right off the ferry says "Manson's Landing 14km", but says nothing about the road that snakes up and down and around the contours of the rocky island, making it the longest 14km we've ridden so far. We arrive exhausted on the shores of Hague Lake, a stretching blue-green jewel surrounded in silky white beaches, and dive into the cool water. The farmer's market up the hill (everything seems to be up a hill on this island) is almost finished when we finally arrive, but we spend some time talking to the artisans and villagers gathered around a giant cedar tree in the center of the courtyard. The sense of community is strong here, and island children, on the daily adventure, fill the air with movement and laughter. 

The Cortes Natural Food Co-op across the street is a local meeting point, and we feast on slightly bruised bananas and almond butter on bread outside on the picnic tables and talk to passing islanders. Our project generates a lot of support in places like this - on an island, the people are inseparable from the ocean and the land, and the need to preserve this connection for kids of the future is very real.

We are offered a spot on the Cortes Community Radio station by Sean, the kind face behind the counter of the co-op, and arrange a live broadcast for tomorrow morning . We are swept up in a wild island jam that stretches into the night, alight with stories of the woods and their mystery, their monsters and magic. One of the old locals tells me about the spirit of Cortes, "we're living on the edge of it all", he says, "most people come here to escape from something, or to find something they have been missing - we're all in this place for a reason though, some of us just can't leave the edge once we've gotten a taste of it..." As we find our way through the dark on our bikes, the stories of the woods seem to stretch and grow before us, and I wonder what we came here to find. It feels like we're crossing a border of sorts, like we've walked into something that is growing and intensifying as we ride North. 

Waking up on the shimmering sands of Hague Lake, we run into the water before kicking it up one more Cortes hill to the radio station in the back of the community hall. Sean gives us time on air to talk about our journey, and tells us a little more about the creation of the funky radio station, overflowing with records and inspiration. This is the kind of place where people walk in afterwards to congratulate us on our interview and write an impromptu song about oil spills in the morning sun outside. Coffee in hand, it is good to know that spontaneous detours lead to places like this, islands full of music, and laughter and really good people.

Because after all, "if you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up space" - right?

When in Rome...

Waking up under a giant chestnut tree in Fanny Bay, I'm offered a fresh picked oyster with my morning coffee, now thats a coastal Canadian summer. A slippery mouthful of salty water makes me grateful for the abundance of the ocean, the oyster is great protein for the kilometers that lie ahead. This prompts me to go in search of my own loot, and soon I am asking locals in Union Bay where to find some fresh BC oysters. I'm told "well the sewage comes out here, and past there begins red tide, so in between those should be good - thats where my wife gets them..." This is my mission, and I have faith in the locals, so off I go. After an entire day spent stopping every so often to re-hydrate my sea friends with ocean water and ice, I feel accomplished. Today is supposedly the hottest of the week, and I feel a deep connection to the oysters that have traveled the 50km to Miracle Beach with us, in a heavy leaking plastic bag hanging off the back of my bike.

In a world where we are so used to grocery store convenience, I am grateful that we are still so able to forage our food from our backyards. And, gazing into the fire, with a deep appreciation for my salty supper, I find yet another reason we need to keep our coastline clean - so that we can all go on an oyster adventure one day.

Later, as the sun sets behind the Coastal Mountain range of the mainland accross the water from Miracle Beach, a young girl Ruby and her mom Wendy stop to talk to us . Ruby is twelve. She tells us that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a result of our ever growing push for more and more and more. She says that if the oil had been extracted and used in our cars and production, it would be the same pollution, just 'invisible' and dispersed. Its just because it's concentrated in the water that we can actually understand how much damage we really do. This journey is teaching us about listening to both the young and the old, with equal respect. Ruby is a part of the generation who is inheriting this planet, and she can see the absurdity in the way we're treating our only home. It is inspiring to meet these kids, for they will be the ones to bring forward the creative solutions to the problems being created right now.

The sand on this beach is soft and silver in the dying light, and we hardly notice the flooding tide advancing until the rainbow blanket is almost surrounded. As we make our way back to our campsite, we stop and talk with a musician named Julian who is working the night shift. "You know, the ocean makes no sense at all half the time, its just too surreal..." he tells us, and these words drift with us as we collapse, exhausted, into our tent.

Beached

To the local indigenous people of this coast, Hornby Island is a sacred place visited for healing and guidance, Tim Biggins tells us this as we sit beneath a shady apple tree in the orchard outside the Cardboardhouse Bakery. As he talks, a mighty jet-black raven lands behind him on the picnic table, head cocked towards us - listening. You can feel this healing energy underfoot as you walk the shores of this island, over bubbles and drips captured in warm sandstone. 

We rolled onto Hornby at the same time as the heat wave and crowd of summertime souls heading to the beach. Someone told us that the further you get from mainland, the slower time moves, and our visit melts into a sea of music, laughter, and adventures along the water. 

This island weaves a silvery web, entwining creative people from all walks of life. So many locals have told the same story - "came for a visit 10....30..40 years ago, fell in love with the place and never left." One wise weathered islander, when I commented on the kindness and openness of the community, laughed and said, "but isn't this the way life should always be? It's funny that we've come so far away from a place of honest friendliness that it suprises us - we're all neighbours here."

What goes up must go down I guess, and we feel the blow on our second day, when our little green tent - our home for the journey - disapears. But a campfire always softens the edges of a rough day, and we spend the night warm and safe in a driftwood beach hut, graciously offered to us by a wandering anarchist named Ayron. Waking up in a cucoon of smooth sea-worn logs, the morning beckons us into the waves.

Denman Island is a cool deep breath between the craziness of Hornby, and Vancouver Island. The huckleberry bushes are loaded with juicy red berries, enjoyed in the shade of tangled mossy forest. The Slobodin family offers us showers, an amazing feast of birthday leftovers, and they donate a three-legged tent to the campaign! We are happy campers, curled up in a new home, in a new place, fed and clean and excited for tomorrow!

The Wild Woods

Timmy's cup....pink lighter.....two more rim-rolling cups.....glass explosion! Dodge! Whew, traveling through the deep green rainforest of the Oceanside Highway the garbage seems so out of place.

To an artist who prides herself in re-using and recycling most of my pieces, I find it almost impossible not to stop and use this 'waste' to its highest potential and create something beautiful with it. An old buckle here, a piece of bent metal there, where does all of this come from and what are we going to do about it? It scars the ditches of sweet peas and daisies and is evidence of a human footprint spreading into what wilderness we have left. Is it my responsibility to pick up these things and use them? Is it somebody's job? It seems like I would be the only person along these lonely kilometers that cares for these scraps, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

In Fanny Bay, we meet another pack-rat with a purpose, George Sawchuck, a sculptor whose creative genius draws people from near and far to take a wander through the "Wacky Woods". George leads us through two of his workshops, overflowing with the most amazing 'junk' transformed into art. Each sculpture speaks boldly of the society we live in, and the artist explains that the world speaks in over 6000 languages, but sees in only one. The sacred-ness of water, and the preservation of our precious resources is something that shines through many sculptures, as well as conflict related to capitalism, oil monopoly, and our constant push for economic growth.
We wander past a huge garden, kept green and happy by George's wife Pat, and into the ancient mossy forest that encircles their beautiful home. The woods have been transformed over many years, random discarded objects pieced together, woven into the trees themselves, to tell a story. Mirrors imbeded into old nurse logs reflect the gentle light filtering through the great green canopy, and mossy groves are alive with elfin treasures. The story isn't obvious, but these woods whisper of freedom - the kind that is found only amongs trees and good friends, when we speak without fear, and create the world we believe in around us.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Goethe

Ferns, Salal, Robins and Rabbits

The deep soft eyes of an indigenous warrior painted on the side of the grocery store follow us as we walk down the main street of Chemainus. This town tells stories everywhere you go - stories of the past, the settlement of the area, the trading system and the flourishing lumber industry. The little town also tells a story of near-death at the industrialization of the mill almost thirty years ago that left 80% of the mill workers without a job, and the creative practicality that kept Chemainus alive. Often resource-based industries leave pockets of boom and bust behind them, as progress is constantly outgrowing itself. In this particular scenario, the townspeople turned to art to draw visitors to the dwindling town and collaboratively began to paint murals depicting the history of their town. Today, tourbuses roll into town at the begining of summer, laden with visitors eager to meander through streets that tell stories as you walk.

The tale of Chemainus is interesting to us because the main force driving the Enbridge Project forward is money and, consequentially, the promise of jobs to Northern communities. In our constant push for economic gain, and an increase in jobs, we must ask ourselves if the creation of 200 permanent jobs (not all of which will be in BC) are worth risking an oil spill in the waters bordering the mighty Great Bear Rainforest. Surely there are ways that communities like Kitimat can use creativity to continue growth without sacrificing ecology for the economy. Investment in local food sources, alternative energy, education, community building, and traditional crafts has a long-lasting strengthening effect on a village, and maintains the integrity of the natural world surrounding it.

Beyond Chemainus, our Canada Day parade leads us into Nanaimo for a morning of music in the harbour, and onwards to Parksville, flags flying high, for an afternoon spent on a different beach. The waterfront is a sea of red and white, teeming with people riding on pride, sunshine and beer. To me, this day is a celebration of our country, our coast and the excitement of the days to come. The journey is just beginning and we have already been blessed by so many interesting perspectives, each leading us into further understanding of how special these waters really are. Under a sky lit by fireworks, explosive flowers of light and sound, in a sea of happy half-cut summer souls, it is very peaceful. Happy Canada Day!

Home

A village can't be made from not wanting to be alone, but from service. A village person is a servant first, one who can, after great learning say, "These are my people. Here I am at Home."

Anon

This message hangs above the sink overlooking a garden woven into the land that slopes away from the outdoor kitchen. We are amongst villagers now, a group of people who have gathered at the O.U.R. Ecovillage in Shawnigan Lake to learn about all different aspects of sustainable living. The laughter and voices from a terrace below us comes from the group of adventurers hard at work building a bathhouse out of cob. The mixture of clay and straw has was the morning's work, and now the fun part has begun - moulding the walls of the new structure. At a sunny picnic table to one side sits a cluster of gardeners, discussing irrigation and the day's project - planting beets! The carefree swoop and sail of a swallow through the trees traces freedom through the blue sky.

Biking the Malahat out of Victoria Monday afternoon was like climbing out of a haze. The stress and chaos of moving, campaigning, and saying goodbye to a beautiful city all fades into the steady motion of the breath and the bikes. The smooth orange skin of the arbutus trees is brilliantly contrasted against the deep green moss dripping from cliffs on either side of the road. The great expanse of sea stretches away from us into the unknown, steady and mysterious, as the ocean always seems to be. Traveling this way, with aching quadriceps pulling a bike, a body, and everything needed for a month-long journey is mysteriously liberating. As a tiny unit of self-sustenance, home is everywhere and anywhere.

And now the villagers and travellers, wanderers and wonderers, gather for a shared lunch in the courtyard under the sun. They join hands in a circle around the long table laden with a feast - borscht, garden salad, casserole, and fresh cornbread - all prepared by the lovely Lara, kitchen magician. Traveling around the circle, each villager introduces himself and what he/she is grateful for on this day. Food tastes so much sweeter when it is blessed in gratitude and as we bike away from the peaceful village, we are fuelled by the kindness of strangers.

Today, we are grateful for freedom.

Ridin' on Island Time....

Crossing the silvery stretch of sea between Swartz Bay and Saltspring is like moving across a time barrier. The tiny island road bobs and dips along the rocky shoreline, and ramshackle fences are overgrown with sweeping bushes of nootka roses and blackberry canes. As the bikes find the rhythm between our breath and the rolling pavement, everything else is carried away on the warm breeze. There’s a small farm stand perched haphazardly on the upswing of one of Saltspring’s famous hills, a sign advertising “Local Mixed Greens - $2”. The honour system is very much alive on the Gulf Islands, and a small money tin is mounted beside a red plastic cooler with one final bag of greens left – munching on sweet dandelion greens and miner’s lettuce, the hills seem friendlier.

Over a week traveling the Gulf Islands taught us a lot of lessons about biking and even more about the lifestyle embodied in these magical little communities. Sustainable living isn’t a trend on the islands or even something that takes a lot of energy – it just makes sense. Stuff is naturally reused or traded so that more garbage doesn’t have to be created, and new things don’t have to be brought across the water. This is both a cause and an effect of the village vibe, strengthening the ties between people even more.

Maybe it’s just that beautiful places grow beautiful people –

On Mayne Island we were so inspired by Patrick Henebery, who is one of the founders of Cobworks, an organization that breathes, builds, teaches sustainable living. As Pat toured us around his beautiful cob home, he explained how everything incorporated into the home is recycled or salvaged material. His first cob, which we peeked into, was built on a budget of $1000 and a “beg, borrow and barter” approach. Art and function are so intertwined in these earthen homes, and we were so intrigued by this that we’ve arranged to visit the O.U.R Ecovillage on our first night of the trip near Shawnigan Lake.

We are so grateful to all the kind people who let us into their hearts and homes (and lawns) on the islands, and so excited about everyone we will meet on our journey up the coast! The big trip starts on Sunday June 27, at Mile 0, and we can’t wait to get riding!

“In my dream the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time it will be a failure of the imagination, and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand” Brian Andreas

This is a journey that begins at a beach.

It is the beach that belongs to all of us, it’s where we first fell in love with the wild west coast, playing tag with the sea foam, and searching for the perfect smooth flat stone to send skipping into the waves. It is the same beach that inspires us still to make BC’s coast our home, and share the joy of the ocean with our children. Our beach is under threat now, by the proposed Enbridge pipeline, connecting Alberta Tar Sands to a supertanker port in Kitimat. To imagine this beach smothered in a thick layer of crude oil is enough to turn our passion into action! We are planning to bike from Victoria to Kitimat, to experience and document the coast untouched by tankers, and to ask the people we meet: what do you love about the coast and what will you do to protect it?

“On my beach, the slip and flow of silky tides has worn a landscape into the rocks. Within these valleys and lakes, life thrives. Anemones bloom, opening their soft green faces to the refracting light above, and the swirl and bubble of water nudges sleeping hermit crabs awake. There is a silver flash of a sculpin disappearing into the seaweed forest, where crabs seek solace from the ever-watchful feathered shadow above. The fluid mosaic of colour dances with my curiosity in the tiny watery world. The ocean makes me realize how interconnected everything is, and how delicate these connections may be. Above the pool, the forest rises majestically towards the sky, the trees cradled in a permanent embrace with the wind. The elements are forever intertwined, old friends on a long journey.” – Hannah

“Our upbringing plays the most important role in who we become, the surrounding shapes and interacting energies sculpting young minds and preparing us for the future. This coast was the playground that entertained my imagination and prepared me for the challenges coming my way. I was always taught to appreciate harmonious landscapes, pay attention to signs and sightings of wildlife, and leave the land as I found it. It is because of this attention to detail that I find myself deeply concerned with the threat tankers pose in these ‘protected’ waters. For me, it’s all about the colors, shapes, and divine proportions working together to form these perfectly synchronized ecosystems. The extent of detail that expands from the tiniest pebbles to the jagged mountaintops is the most amazing template and provides limitless inspiration. In the future, I hope that I will be able call upon these lands to teach my children and their children all of the valuable lessons one learns from living harmoniously with nature. “ – Tyese

So we’re asking you now, what you love about the coast and what you are willing to do to protect it. Our project focuses on creating a conversation about solutions – ways that we can all tread a little lighter on this earth and ask the government for legislation that does the same. We need to see a permanent legal ban on all crude oil tankers traveling in BC waters. Our journey to turn words to actions begins with a beach and two bicycles, what about yours?