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!
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…
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…
In 2016, I embarked on the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Expedition of the Year: The Hidden Geography of Newfoundland. This project documented little-known history when the Battle of the Atlantic arrived on North American shores. On two separate raids, U-boats sunk four vessels in Newfoundland waters and destroyed a loading pier for the strategic Bell Island iron ore mine. Recently, I received first-hand confirmation regarding rumors surrounding the involvement of a spy in the sinking of the vessels Saganaga and Lord Strathcona. Newfoundland resident Lloyd Walker reached out to me to describe an encounter he had as a young boy…