JUNE 29, 2009 50 WAYS TO SAVE THE OCEAN #1 : Go to the Beach

“When children explore tide pools, pick up and examine seashells along a golden shore, or build sand castles, they often discover a spark of wander that may inspire their life directions, bringing them to science, architecture, engineering, or a range of other callings” (50 Ways to Save the Ocean)

Edmonton, Alberta (Photo source)

I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, a city in the prairies and far from the ocean. I was 6 years old the first time I went to a beach on the ocean. My mother took my brothers and I on a trip to Victoria, British Columbia because, unbeknownst to us, she was thinking about moving us there. We instantly fell in love with this beautiful place, especially the ocean. I remember clearly, when during our visit, my mom took my brothers and me to a wishing well at the Olde England Inn, where we were staying, and we wished so hard we could move to Victoria. The wishing well worked for us because shortly after our visit my mom started planning our move to the west coast. In the fall of 1986 we found ourselves taking in the smells of the Pacific and the flowers of Victoria, our new home, as we crossed the tarmac at the Victoria airport!

My mom was very brave when she moved us to Victoria; she was a single mom in a new place with a new job and three kids. She used most of her pennies to fulfill her dream to move us here and so we didn’t have a lot. During that first year I never noticed we didn’t have much money. Life was fun…one big adventure. On most days, when school was finished, we explored the new city by foot and played at the beach just a half block from our house. We spent countless hours flipping rocks to look at crabs, exploring tide pools and chasing each other with slimy kelp fronds.

Willows Beach, Victoria

To live in a waterfront home was always a dream of my mother’s and soon after our big move to the west coast she met our step-dad and they fulfilled the dream when we moved into a house on Willows Beach in Oak Bay. How lucky we were! We absolutely LOVED living on the beach! The beach became our backyard…I ran on the sandy beach to prepare for future Olympics, constructed log rafts to travel to the South Pacific, enjoyed the accompaniment of gulls and seals, and we hit the ‘high seas’ in our stepdad’s 17’ boat to explore the nearby islands of Chatham and Discovery, fish for salmon and set crab and shrimp pots. We were very lucky because both my mom and step-dad made a point of teaching us to respect the environment and the animals living in it. If it were not for these beach adventures during my childhood I may not have the passion for the ocean I have today.

The beach makes you happy!

Now, even as an adult, I try to go to the beach to observe and explore as often as possible. In this age of information technology it is easy spend hours staring at a screen. I will never get the same inspiration about life from a computer screen; it is the wonderment of the living world that inspires me and my dreams to spend my entire life learning about and caring for the Ocean and it’s inhabitants.