Come Away With Me . . .
For you: photos and a two-minute slide show from my recent days aboard Maple Leaf Adventures‘ MV Swell in my own backyard – the Broughton Archipelago on NE Vancouver Island.
The work while aboard? Striving to be a conduit of understanding for the life around us: Freckles the Humpback who was acrobatic for over an hour; the Black Bear cub in a rain-soaked, moss-covered Cedar with lichen draped over his/her ear; the Pacific White-Sided Dolphins leaping over a Humpback and then surfing in a ship’s wake; the giant Steller Sea Lions growling at a frequency the resounds far and deep; the Bald Eagles tearing apart the salmon that feeds this coast; and . . . so much more.
With the recent diesel spill further to the north on BC’s Central Coast, it all felt even more fragile. I feel even greater urgency and importance to try to capture the excruciating beauty and balance here so that it might enter more human lives and increase true awareness and true action.
Know and celebrate your connection no matter how many kilometres you are from the life in these images.
See the common life-enhancing solutions: reducing demand for fossil fuels; reducing use of dangerous chemicals; increasing values based on the longterm health of the environment our lives depend on . . . that’s where happiness, health and empowerment lie.
Don’t be despondent because tipping into the pit of despair will truly bring darkness.
Do it . . . . come away with me.
MV Swell built in 1912 with major overhauls by Maple Leaf Adventures to be both very comfortable and have a reduced carbon footprint / be energy efficient.
Pacific White-Sided Dolphin in the rain. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Freckles the Humpback Whale (BCY0727) breaching. She was acrobatic for over an hour.
©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Freckles the Humpback (BCY0727) tail-lobbing. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Freckles the Humpback Whale (BCY0727) breaching.
©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Lacey Falls, Broughton Archipelago. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Juvenile Bald Eagle water dripping off beak. Imagine the sounds and smells I cannot relay in these images – the rain falling on the Ocean; the calls of eagles, ravens, various ducks and gulls; and the air thick with the smell of Chum Salmon that fought their way back to the river where they were born to ensure their offspring have the best chance of a healthy environment by fertilizing it with their own bodies.
©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Wet juvenile Bald Eagle takes flight. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Black Bear cub with lichen draped over his/her right ear – peering down from a moss-covered Cedar, salmon musk thick in the air; moisture dripping off his/her fur and everything else including us . . so clearly this was the rainforest, fed by salmon.
©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Close-up. Little Black Bear Cub peering down from moss-covered Cedar. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
See his/her tongue sticking out and the lichen over his/her right ear? ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Merganser running to before flight. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Humpback Whale being mobbed by Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. S/he was repeatedly trumpeting, presumably in exasperation. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Morning light. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Argonaut the Humpback in the morning light (BCY0729). ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
Happiness . . and purpose. I’m on the right on MV Swell. Photo by Captain Alex Ruurs.
Two-minute slide show with more images.
And -the faces and voices of the people most directly impacted by the fuel spill on BC’s Central Coast. The impacts of this, of “only” a tug sinking, it makes so very clear that there has to be a ban on tanker traffic and that we all have to reduce the demand for fossil fuels for so many reasons including that it literally fuels the demand for tankers on our coast.
The Marine Detective 
2 Responses to “Come Away With Me . . .”
Outstand. Love the slide show.
fantastic Jackie I wish I could have seen it all Billie