Barnacle Babes Magazine Vol 3 Issue 3 - Sailing Issue

Warrior Women of the Sea Connection | Conservation | Community

MAKING WAVES TO

Inspire Change

AWAKENING AN ANCIENT MARINER

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THE JOURNEY OF A COAST GUARD

Vol. 3/No.3 : SAILING

ROCK THE BOAT

Sailing

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L I V E

T O

I N S P I R E

SAIL - PLAY - SLAY

Welcome to our 7TH issue of Barnacle Babes magazine! supports us. Barnacle Babes magazine has been Thank you to everyone who reads our publication and last couple of years, trying to get this going with very much a labour of love! It’s been a tough go the We’re getting ready to really step outside of grow! to extremely limited funds. But we’re getting ready ves. Something that will have an impact on the our little box and build something bigger than oursel as a whole! We really want to build a community oceans, our environment, us as women, and the planet the world. But we also want to do so while playing, of people dedicated to creating a positive impact on the way. having fun, developing friendships and educating along ed issues. Barnacle Babes was started while workOur sailing issue is only the first of many sailing-them , a web series interviewing people who had left ing on a project called CruiserTV, with another friend world. We interviewed both men and women the around the rat race of modern life and decided to sail , psychology of “Why”. I would ask the male sailors and their families. I was always fascinated by the they as up light men the watch to love would I And “What is it about the ocean that draws you to her”? e filled with LIFE, EXCITEMENT and REJUVINAanswered this question. They would suddenly becom smell of the salt air”, “the unpredictability”, “I feel TION. They would tell me, “It’s the adventure”, “the I would ask the women. There were two types Then soul”. my of part alive when I’m sailing”, and “she is ting their husband/partner’s dream and were of women; the ones that were dragged to sea and suppor there was the women who truly, truly love the and there be to bitter towards her and really didn’t want sea! Those were the women I wanted to sit with. you love”? And when I first started asking this I would ask those women…”What is it about the ocean they reacted, versus the men. The women did how in nces differe the question, I became enthralled with women found peace. She became relaxed, calm and the opposite to the men. Where the men lit up, the the ocean. Women would say, “She is my church”, with nship grounded when talking about her relatio power”, “she is grounding”, “she is my teacher”, “she “she is where I go to find solace”, “she is me”, “she is , “she is sustenance”. I cry every time I talk about blood” the is is my confidant”, “she is the mother”, “she , my tribe, people who understood me! That is somethis, without fail. Why? Because I found my women just the sport, the vocation or the cause. Barnacle wasn’t thing I never thought about when doing this! It and the community behind us that supports that Babes is about our connection to the ocean as women love and connection, bringing it all together. this community of women, who share this pasFrom there, Barnacle Babes was born! An idea to build enjoy her and protect her, like only a feminine energy sion for the sea and help figure out ways to further can! what we are building in Connection, Conservation Join us on this journey, will you? Come be part of voices to be heard, stories to be shared and a planet and Community. We are creating opportunities for to be saved!

Making waves,

YACHT & YOGA SAIL WITH A SCIENTIST REGATTA RACING 2 | www.barnaclebabes.com W W W. M A K I N G WAV E S S A I L I N G .C O M

Jodi Mossop

the articles you’ve read, the people you’ve encounAs always, I love to hear from you, our readers, about if we find them GREAT, we’ll include in our next tered and we would also love to hear your stories and es.com upcoming issues. Send all emails to Jodi@barnaclebab

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Content 08 22 28 40 42 VIMFF.ORG "This publication was printed on Sugar Sheet - a 100% tree-free paper, created from the residue waste fibre of sugar cane. Barnacle Babes has selected Sugar Sheet as its paper of choice in an effort to measurably reduce deforestation and CO2 emissions."

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08 From Sky to Sea Tricia Nash

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The Magical Mimic Diana Belton

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Rock the Boat Sarah Specker

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18 Sailing Your Sea Saoirse Wang

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Journey of a Coast Guard Jodi Mossop

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24 Making Waves to Inspire Change Monique Mills

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Awakening an Ancient Mariner Jenny Swing

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32 Salt

Jalila Singerff

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7 Tips To Manage Stress This Fall Kelli Sroka

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No More Butts Brian Yurasits

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42 My Sailboat Kelli Sroka

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You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know Sandy Dupleich

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Salty Warriors

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Barnacle Babes Vancouver, BC, Canada JODI MOSSOP

Publisher | Editor | Content Curator jodi@barnaclebabes.com

IVETA LEKESOVA

Featured Article

Graphic/Layout Designer design@barnaclebabes.com

MONIQUE MILLS Monique Mills is adventurous and playful woman who seeks the peace and preservation of our natural world. Her mandate is to, “live to inspire peace and preservation”. She is an ocean citizen, captain and the founder of Making Waves Sailing. She is Canadian by birth but a citizen to the world!

For more information on Monique and Making Waves, go to: www.makingwavessailing.com

JALILA SINGERFF

Managing Fashion Editor jalila@barnaclebabes.com

SYLVIA TAYLOR Editor

CONTRIBUTORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS SARAH SPECKER, MD MEDICAL DOCTOR, CONSERVATIONIST & WORLD TRAVELLING SURFER SAOIRSE WANG AWAKENING AND INTEGRATION COACH WORKING WITH CREATIVES, INTUITIVES AND HEALERS WWW.FINDINGHENOSIS.COM KELLI SROKA TRUTH SEEKER, EARTH HEALER JENNY SWING SAILOR AND WILDLIFE ENTHUSIAST MONIQUE MILLS OCEAN CITIZEN, CAPTAIN AND FOUNDER OF MAKING WAVES SAILING JODI MOSSOP FOUNDER, PUBLISHER, PRODUCER, WRITER, BLOGGER, AND STORY CURATOR FOR BARNACLE BABES MAGAZINE SANDY DUPLEICH TRICIA NASH

COVER PHOTO: "ISTOCK.COM/MBBIRDY”

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Subscribe!

You can find her moving story on page 24.

Contributors

The Barnacle Babes Magazine is an informative and inspirational digital and print magazine platform with interviews, stories, conservation efforts and more.

Issued quarterly. If you like what you see, please subscribe at www.barnaclebabes.com Single Copy Price: $ 1199 + tax CAD One Year International Subscription: $ 4599 + tax CAD GIFTS If you would like to subscribe as a gift for a friend, you can do that online at www.barnaclebabes.com

SOCIAL MEDIA & NEWSLETTER Join us at the community of salted women, to get daily inspirations, videos, event updates, and posts about our Warrior Women of the Sea. Interactive weekly discussions will lead to actionable quests.

Thank You

SARAH SPECKER A general practioning doctor from the Netherlands that has decided that surfing, travelling the world and offering her time to ocean conservation, is her life's purpose. She travels home to her practice couple of times a year to continue to fund her travels but her calling to the ocean is strong and she shares this passion with us through pictures, stories and her enthusiasm. Not only through our magazine, but also through her blog on our site.

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SAOIRSE WANG Awakening and Integration Coach who works with creatives, intuitives and healers Saoirse Wang is a born intuitive with many gifts, who has been teaching, learning, healing and coaching for 10 years.

Saoirse uses her gifts and training in ancient priestess initiation, shamanic work, and body and energy healing. She works with creatives, intuitives and healers to bridge the gaps and help them live an integrated life.

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JENNY SWING Jenny Swing is a sailor and wildlife enthusiast living on the coast of Maine. After raising her two children in Vermont and more or less retiring, she has devoted as much time as possible to boats, sailing and the sea. Along with sailing, her profound passion is marine wildlife, especially cetaceans. Over the past few years, she has been the first mate on a 58’ traditional sailing vessel and has traveled the world to spend time with our beloved soul family of the sea, both in and out of the water.

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FROM

Sky

Sea TO

A Woman’s Transition from Commercial Pilot to Offshore Sailor

By Tricia Nash

By Tricia Nash

Have you ever thought of yourself as the kind of woman who would prefer to take the road less traveled? Well, I did. Although, I never thought in a million years that road would turn out to be the sea.

As I was turning 35, I had a major life-changing decision to make.

Stay in my current career as a commercial pilot, at which I had worked extremely hard to accomplish where I was, or leave it all behind to sail around the world with my new partner. Well, that was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.

I was not a sailor, I was a pilot. I loved being on the water; I even flew float planes.

However, my idea of being on the water was being on one of my friend’s fancy yachts, and cruising over to the Gulf Islands for the weekend to party. Sailing, no way!

I liked going 300 knots, not 3 knots. And all that work of hoisting sails and hauling lines sounded slow and painful. And then I met a guy, and yep, fell in love with a sailor, and this sailor had a beautiful sailboat. So what was a girl to do? As much as I loved flying, I loved the idea of a grand adventure even more. But how does one leave the only life she has ever known, give up her career, independence, friends, and comfortable land living? So, I

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thought about the things that I knew for sure. I knew that I did not want a regular, suburban life; I wanted to dance to my own drumbeat and I wanted to share my life with the sailor. I just did not know if I could be a sailor myself and embrace all that the full time sailing lifestyle entailed.

After about three months of serious thought, and weighing all the pros and cons (oh… and our great, 3 week summer sailing trip to Desolation Sound and the Broughtons in British Columbia), I decided I was going to do it. Flying was somewhat of a stressful life, and not working sounded much less stressful. And, of course, this new life would be the living of a dream … leaving it all behind and sailing off into the sunset. Luckily for me, my learning curve into sailing was gentle, since I had a lot of background experience to bring to the table. However, learning how to sail a 47ft steel boat is kind of like learning how to fly a Boeing 737 instead of a Cessna 150! After eight years of sailing, I am still learning new things everyday; experience only comes with time. Of course, the only way to figure out whether you have the right aptitude for sailing is to get out there and do it. And over the course of time, living ‘the dream’ and shaping my new reality, I found my niche in my unconventional lifestyle.

We departed Vancouver the following year, in September, 2011, with our Waterline Cutter all outfitted to sail offshore. I was as ready mentally as I was ever going to be. I was young, carefree and in love, and ready for my new adventure. I had never sailed

offshore before, so I really did not know what to expect and, I gotta say, sometimes ignorance is bliss. It is not like I had not done my homework. I went to a few offshore sailing seminars, I read a few books, I talked to a number of experienced people, and I took a highly recommended anti seasickness medication before we departed that morning from Neah Bay, our last stop before heading out to sea. But as we rounded Cape Flattery in Northwest Washington State, and those giant ocean rollers hit me, coming all the way from Japan, I was done for. It only took one big roller, and I was as sick as a dog!

And that is how I stayed for the duration of the trip, down the Washington and Oregon coast to San Francisco. I particularly remember getting up to use the head, and as I was trying to steady myself in the doorway of our cabin, as the boat was rocking and rolling in 40 knot winds and 10 foot seas, I thought to myself:

“I gave up my career for this?! I hate this!”

Needless to say, sailing from Vancouver and the US Pacific Northwest to San Francisco is probably not the easiest cruise to start out on, but it is the only way to get to Mexico. So, as we crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge in dense fog (but smooth seas), I started to perk up but realized that, with no help from myself, the first mate, we had made it to our first big destination, I had a mix of feelings. Luckily for us, out of the 4 of

us on board, I was the only one seasick. It also turned out that I had suffered an allergic reaction to the anti-seasickness meds I had taken, so it was a double whammy en route for me. I could not get out of bed for fi ve days. But, I survived and I did not jump ship and fly home. I was determined to see it through for a while longer, since giving up was never an option for me. I was just praying to any God out there, that it was going to get better.

Well, I am very happy to say that it did get better, a lot better.

As we went further south along the California coast, the seas were calmer. We were not as far offshore and the winds and waves were more favourable to my poor tummy. In San Diego, we spent a couple of weeks doing some last minute outfitting, and then we joined 180 boats in the two week Baja Ha Ha rally to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...when the next, and real adventure began.

Learning to live aboard on a boat is no easy adjustment. Not only are you living on a constantly moving floating home, you are living away from “home”, and your floating home is often in a foreign country. Those of you who have spent lots of time in foreign countries…and I am not talking about fancy, all-inclusive resorts, which some never leave and think they have experienced a country…know what I am referring to. I am talking about living in a totally different world without the comforts that one is used to. Having said all that, well, that is just part

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of living the adventure and experiencing a whole new way of life.

Reading books about sailing around the world, or however far you plan to go, is very helpful in preparation for this transition.

But, like everything else in life, you learn as you go, and you learn what works for you. Most sailors you will meet will be a husband and wife team, or some combination thereof. You have to work as a true team to make the sailing venture work like a well-oiled machine. Whatever your role may be on board your boat, you will learn that role very well over time. I learned how to run my galley like it’s my kingdom. I’ve learned what foods do not have to take up precious room in your refrigerator and can last forever in your cupboards. I’ve learned that all fruits and vegetables need to be washed before they come aboard in case of bugs. I’ve learned that bay leaves will stop weevils from living in your flour and all cardboard should be removed before it comes on board, since little bugs will be living in places you’ve never expected. I’ve learned that finding the foods you are used to buying on a regular basis back home, is a thing of the past. Selection is no longer your best friend. I’ve learned to speak a new language, so I can ask for help when needed.

dle any tropical storms that might pass through in their absence.

So, that is what we did. Putting the boat away for the summer is a lot of work…my least favourite job. You are working in crazy heat and humidity in these lovely tropical countries. However, once it is all done, you are on a plane to cooler temperatures and land life, and all those little comforts you have left behind. I must say, after a year straight on the boat, I was so ready for my comfy land life. A life including, bathtubs, cable TV, fast Wi-Fi, sushi for takeout … and most of all, grocery shopping with variety and freshness.

I’ve learned that seasickness never went away for me, but I can manage it with different types of over-the-counter meds.

As it says, last sail before the veil…Costa Rica.

Most of all, I’ve learned a million new things, and that has been spectacular. Lastly, I have learned that I can live on a boat; I can live in foreign countries; I can be away from my friends and family for a long period of time, and having no internet or TV from time to time means peace and quiet!

Like all major changes in one’s life, the trick is to find your own personal balance. Without balance in your life, you are never at peace, because you are not living your happy medium.

It took some time for me, and for my husband and I as a couple, to find our happy medium (Yes, my sailor finally did make an honest woman out of me). When we first moved on the boat, our plan was to live abroad year-round and sail around the world until we were done sailing. Well, that sounded fine at the time, but reality for me was very different. When we first moved on board, and gave up our place in Vancouver (we were both in transitions in our lives when we met, so we were both renting at the time), we lived aboard for one year straight. Sorting out your life and figuring out what you want to keep and put in storage or get rid of completely, is a very cleansing experience.

We moved on board in June, left in September on our journey, and by the following June, we had traveled about 3,000 miles and had ended up in La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. That time of year in Mexico is hot, really, really HOT! The idea of spending the summer in the sweltering heat with no AC was not sounding fun at all, especially when summers in Vancouver can be pretty spectacular.

We also realized that most of the other cruisers we had met were doing something we hadn’t really thought about yet. They were finding somewhere safe and relatively inexpensive to put their boat for the summer, strip it all down and leave it ready to han-

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Last Sail before the Veil, Costa Rica

For the first three seasons, we pretty much had the same routine.

We would sail for about 6 months at a time, from around November till May, going further and further afield, and then find a good place to put the boat away for the summer, and fly home to Vancouver. My husband painted this great picture of how each summer we could live somewhere different, and have variety of where we stayed … meaning we could live anywhere we wanted, since we were not tied down to a home. The reality was, we always came back to Vancouver, since that was home for us, and that is where our family and friends were. And like most families, they are forever changing. Parents get older, step-daughters have children, and these things draw you back. So renting a different a place every summer and then packing everything up and putting it in storage was becoming tedious and no fun. I needed a home base. So, after a couple of years, we bought a condo in downtown Vancouver, and I have to tell you it was the best thing we ever did. It is so much easier to come home after a season of sailing, when you know where you are coming home to. Life became simplified. I had found my balance. I had my great little condo in my awesome city, and then after being home for 5 months or so, I was done with land life, had no packing up to do, and I was ready to continue with my sailing adventures.

We are nearing the end of our seventh sailing season now, and I must say, I have this lifestyle down to a science. We have traveled over 10,000 miles, through ten different countries, and I hope we keep sailing for another 10 years yet. There are many more countries to see, many more seas to cross, many more friends to make, and many more sailing adventures to be had.

On route to San Andreas, Columbia…me at the helm, all 3 sails out, and I am not seasick!

On route to San Andreas, Columbia, Trichia at the Helm and not sea sick

For all of you out there wondering if you can make the transition to following seas, fair winds and the odd storm or two, the only way you can find out if this lifestyle is for you, is to get out there and find your happy balance.

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By Diana Belton

There are moments when you witness a wonder; you may not know the full potential but you can still feel the wonder unfold. In my case, it was the folding and unfolding of graceful tentacles. The tentacles of the mimic octopus.

Photo Credit: Diana Belton Mimic Octopus, Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

This is a unique cephalopod. It’s nature’s ‘shapeshifter’. The mimic uses trickery to fend off potential predators by copying the movements and appearance of poisonous sea creatures. It will impersonate lionfish, sole fish, crabs, sea anemones and many other sea creatures to avoid being attacked.

First identified in 1998 off one of the larger Sunda Islands known as Sulawesi, it is believed to inhabit the bays of Indonesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea. The water temperatures in the known habitats of the mimic octopus are similar to the temperatures of northern Queensland, and the rich abundance of prey that the Great Barrier Reef complex provides makes it an ideal place for this species to thrive, although it had not been recorded there.

While exploring the waters around Lizard Island, I had the privilege of experiencing the first encounter with a mimic octopus in Australian waters. Deciding to go on a snorkel around mid-day, I took a trek down to the lagoon bringing my fins and camera hoping to hit the shallow reefs that surround the island. My goal was to take some pictures of the diverse fish, vibrant coral, and the glorious colour schemes that giant clams display underwater. Before reaching the reefs I swam over the sandy lagoon; the water was clear and warm. There were stingrays cruising across the bottom, joined by the odd nudibranch making its way across the sand. A couple more fin kicks and suddenly there was an octopus peering out from the top of a sand burrow. What luck – an octopus out on the sand; with the great visibility it was the perfect opportunity for some photos. This moment sent me into awe over this species. The mimic started to put on the most incredible show, shifting from one pose to another, tentacles disappearing and reappearing from underneath to form new shapes. It was a real thrill to just sit and watch such an amazing event, and all the incredible strange movements that I was witnessing.

While observing this incredible creature I was able to witness the octopus mimicking the stingray.

By bringing all of its tentacles, excluding one, around the base of itself, it created the stingray body shape, and the last tentacle placed straight out, resembling the stingray's tail. After several minutes it changed itself to look like a starfish placing four of its tentacles into the burrow it was on and the other four stretched out like a starfish. As I dove down to take a closer look, the octopus realized that its starfish appearance did not deter my curiosity. So it pulled two more of its tentacles down into the sand burrow leaving two outstretched, opposing one another, giving the impression of a banded sea snake, (this defense is commonly used when the mimic octopus is being attacked by damselfish). It was the show of a lifetime!!!

Already so excited about seeing an octopus, I was ecstatic to learn of its origin and the significance of the sighting. Fortunately, when I went to develop the pictures I had taken, the shopkeeper was able to tell me all about the octopus that I had digitally captured. The staff at Wet Rez Cameras shared in my enthusiasm to know the mimic octopus is out in Australian waters. Initiating contact with Researcher and Head of Sciences at the Victoria Museum in Melbourne Dr. Mark Norman confirmed the species as the Mimic Octopus and that my viewing is the first ever recorded sighting of this wondrous creature in Australian waters.

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“Rock

the Boat”

By Sarah Specker

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A

s a sign of gratitude for guiding and supporting me during my residency to become a family doctor, I gave my mentor a compass. Not just any compass, but a marine compass. For those unfamiliar with them, they are mostly used on ships and have no needle. To me, it symbolized many things I wanted to thank him for. Teaching me how to 'sail my own boat solo' (metaphorically speaking); never stopping me from ‘rocking the boat’ (also metaphorically); and mostly, for giving me the confidence to follow the 'North' of my own Inner Compass.

If you trust in yourself, you don't need a needle to find your North.

My personal North points to lots of different interests which are fused together by shared ideals and values: a love for waves, the ocean and marine life; a craving for adventure; a strong belief you can realise any dream, regardless of age, gender, background or income, as long as you put your mind to it; and, of course, female empowerment.

I was fortunate to be born and raised and still live in a place and time where conditions for women have considerably improved. Not only the right to vote but also to study, drive a car, dress however we like, access birth control and have the

same jobs as men. All these rights enable us to follow our own inner compass less restricted than before.

Unfortunately, we all know this is definitely not the case everywhere in the world, and it took some very strong, persistent, passionate and sassy ladies to acquire these rights, including my mother. Only five-foot two-inches, soft spoken but stubborn as a mule, she fiercely participated in a national political party fighting for women's rights. But it still baffles me that we had to and still have to, fight for these rights. Why weren't we equal from the start? And who are 'they' to tell us we're not equal?

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Mostly, these rights were acquired and slowly implemented through political and diplomatic actions, careful not to upset society too much, too quickly. Thankfully, there have always been the rare individuals who just did their own thing and 'took' what was rightfully theirs, regardless of what others said or thought: Cleopatra , Florence Nightingale, Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, Malala Yousafzai, to name just a few.

So what about the ultimate world rebels: the She-Pirates? This thought came to me whilst watching a recent hit series on Netflix called, Black Sails, a pirate version of Game of Thrones, situated in Nassau, The Bahamas, filled with conspiracies, violence and... She-Pirates.

According to history, there have only been a few female pirates--that we know of. Often restricted by ship's laws (women were considered too weak for physically demanding tasks); superstition (a woman on board would bring bad luck); and fear of chaos (men would potentially fight over them); they would disguise themselves as men to work on ships. The attraction? Probably to enjoy the rights, privileges and freedoms that women on land didn't have. Maybe a sense of adventure or maybe just despair. From the Hudson River to the Adriatic Sea, the Seven Seas were raided by women.

surviving and sometimes even reigning in their world. That is a treasure we all benefit from. They should be praised, and as the pirates say, “Never surrender the booty!”

In writing about these women, no matter how minimally, I am trying to pay tribute to them for helping create a world in which I can use my rights and freedoms to chase all of my dreams to the best of my abilities.

I hope we women will remain strong and keep rocking the boat and sticking together, empowering all women in their endeavours. And with a little extra ‘piracy,’ we could capture an even bigger booty for women all over the world.

Let your Inner Compass and She-Pirate guide you through life's stormy seas in pursuit of your own happiness, rights and freedoms.

And in the words of an old American proverb:

“Love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe.”

These She-Pirates came from every continent and walk of life. Some were disowned by their families for choosing the wrong man; some were bastards; others were orphaned and desperate. But what stands out in each of their life stories, is not only the severe hardships they endured, but their fierce survival.

Unlike the image we have of their male counterparts, those female buccaneers didn't seem to enjoy that lifestyle, but couldn't escape it, either. And contrary to the previously mentioned great women, the swashbuckling scalawags achieved little more than acquiring booty.

Regardless, their toughness and perseverance in a male-dominated 'business' is not only admirable but a reflection of what women all over the world have to endure in their career.

These women gained respect not just for themselves, but for our gender, by simply

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Sailing ‘Your’ Sea

By Saoirse Wang

Imagine, the horizon spreads out before you, clear blue sky and perfect blue water below. Endless possibilities and directions lay before you. The breeze picks up stirring the sails on your ship, lurching her forward. You cast your line and cast your fate with the ocean and see where the wind will take you. You are fully confident in your ability to sail into any storm, any water and into any adventure that lays ahead. You trust, 100%, your knowledge of your ship; how it moves, how to talk to it, how to move it in the subtlest of ways. Your ship is your life companion and the ocean is your home. You have the skills and training to keep her ship shape and ready to sail at any time. You are the captain of this powerful vessel and you have become one in the journey and direction. You chart your course to open water and adventure.

Fear is your friend when stormy weather hits, it keeps you aware and on your toes. Fear does not stop you, it sharpens your sight and determination to move the sails and steer your ship into the safety of harbors known and unknown.

Years of training, practice, and love make the journey enjoyable, fun and creative. You have practiced what to do in the storms and how to enjoy the light breezes, the amazing sights and smells that delight your senses. The ocean is your domain, enlightening and enlivening every cell in your body. You are alive on the water. You feel things you can never feel on land and nothing holds you back, nothing.

A good sailor knows every crack and cranny of her vessel and would never sail without proper training and guidance. Guided by the stars, maps, the water and the calling of her heart she sets sail. Always prepared for the journey with a sense of wonder and joy of what awaits on the water. A good sailor is open to learning more and understands that the ocean is the true mistress, there to teach and strengthen the sailor. The ocean is to be treated with great respect and never, never underestimated. The journey is the joy; not the destination.

The destination is the landing place to rest and to get ready for the next voyage, the next horizon. The ocean always calls for more, it stirs the soul, it stirs the imagination and all possibilities. A good sailor is always ready for the call of the ocean and her ship is ready to answer with her.

It is so surprising to me just how many of us spend time learning how to master a task, a job, a way of life but never really dive into learning the most important ship we sail, ourselves.

We set sail into the ocean of life and never ask the important questions; who am I? What do I want? Who the hell is steering this ship and do I even want to go in that direction. We get taken down and sink to the depths because we have no idea how to steer our own life, we let the fear of a storm or calm water mess with our direction. We panic from fear and stress causing so much harm and trauma to our self and our ship. We feel we can never get to the shore of our choosing, Hell some of us don’t even understand we can choose the shore and choose as many shores as we like.

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We are mermaids, we are goddesses, we are warriors and we are sailors on an ocean of our life.

So many of us are never taught how to sail, how to dream of possibilities and that the purpose of our life is to see what is out on the ocean. How are we to be affective in our life and in the healing of the world if we have no idea of our ship? How to steer and care for her and that it is our ship to steer not another’s. You cannot start a journey if you don’t know how to sail the ship, to master your abilities and trust in your skills. So many of us beautiful sailors have given into the lack of possibilities, sticking to the safety of the land and shallow shores, but dreaming of the open water. We have been taught so many false ideas of what and who we are, that it seems terrifying to think of living any other way. The horizon calls but we do not know how to answer the call.

Let me give you comfort. There is never a wrong time to explore your ship, to learn to sail and start to navigate your life in the direction you choose.

The simple act of getting to know who you are, who you really are, does more to save the world than anything else.

Too many times, we let other things get in the way of mastering our self. We let the world tell us how to live, what shores we can visit, and the limited possibilities of our vessels. We let the world dictate the horizon and our abilities, not our inner calling and knowing. By taking the time needed to heal and learn yourself, you become the captain of your ship, you set sail into your possibilities and you become one with the mistress, our ocean.

This is a lifelong task to sail the seas, to reach our horizons, to taste the adventure. This is the joy of our life, it seems scary and terrifying and impossible. The impossible becomes possible if you remember the “I” is you, and all you need is you to sail, anytime, anywhere. I challenge you to dream, to learn your vessel, to trust the wind and sails, to take care and love who and what you are.

You are the sailor, the ship and the ocean.

You are the answer you have been looking for to have the life you want to live.

So, set course, take the steps needed to sail where you want, live your adventure. What else have you got to do anyway, live someone else’s life? Hell NO! You are here to captain your ship and sail your sea. Adventure HO! Love and light Saoirse

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ICE DIVING IN LAKE MINNEWANKA IN BANFF

JOURNEY

OF A COAST GUARD

She fell in love with diving! She achieved her Instructor certification and then went back to the Caribbean and worked there for a season. When she came back home, she thought about going back to university but got a job in the Bahamas and then, Malta.

She wanted to become a marine biologist to become a mermaid but she was now living it! She was watching fish in the wild and learning so much that she felt that she was learning more IN the ocean then learning about it in a classroom, under a microscope.

She moved to Malta, then England, and then Mexico. Diana would work six to seven month contracts and then go home and visit her mom for a few weeks and then go somewhere else. However, after visiting Australia, she decided to stay for five years. There, she would spend a lot of time snorkeling the shallow reefs, often sighting 20 species of sharks in one snorkel.

By Jodi Mossop

DIVE TRAINING WITH THE CANADIIAN COAST GUARD

The summer sun is shining in the beautiful fishing village of Steveston and the company is awesome, and once again, I’m reminded of the reason why I do what I do. The women that I get to meet, write about and interview are some pretty amazing, bad ass women and Diana Belton is no exception to that.

I was introduced to her through one of her colleagues at Search and Rescue and we decided to meet at a little coffee shop and sit outside. She brought her puppy! Oh my goodness, she was way too cute! Our interview was interrupted a few times with people coming by to meet her little English Staffordshire Terrier.

So who is Diana Belton? Diana is a member of the Canadian Coast Guard Dive team and has been for just over a year now; she does the search and rescue portion of the hovercrafts just off the SAR base off Sea Island, outside of Vancouver, BC Canada. Their team has the capabilities of penetrating through surface supplies, should a ship flip or go under. A whole team is often deployed, two divers, some tenders and someone working on the panels, so that there is always communication to the topside.

She shares with me that the job can sometimes be a little gruesome. They can get a lot of jumpers and such in the Vancouver area, from some of the bridges, but their job of finding them is balanced with the fact that they’re out there for the families of the victim. They help bring closure to some of these horrible situations.

They also find themselves doing evacuations with the hovercraft from remote beaches where ambulatory or fire services can’t access them or get the patient back to their ambulance.

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an to do her advanced level and then went to live on a sailboat for three months. She did not go back to university that year. She worked construction jobs and pursued her Dive Masters certification while living in Calgary.

DOING WHAT I LOVE. CREDIT" MIGRATION MEDIA

In April of 2017, Diana was accepted to compete for entry into a training program that led to her current job. She was competing against 11 other people; seven of them made it through, six males and her. Apparently, it’s a very grueling process of 17 weeks. A few ended up quitting because of the difficulty of the program; which Diana referred to as “G.I. Jane School”. They would sometimes start their day with a five kilometer run and then a swim across the Fraser River followed by training with lots of equipment.

“Before I started my training with them and before I went into the competition, I was doing a lot of pushups and trying to do pull ups and sit ups, trying to get myself into shape because, physically I am strong but the male DNA always is a bit stronger. So you have to kind of be strong and smart and be able to have your team trust you. So I feel like through that grueling 17 weeks we became a team and really at the end of it, the people that don't make it are the ones that people don't trust their lives to”.

She went on to share that it’s her peers who became her instructors; they’re the ones doing the physics, maintenance classes and all these different components. Her training wasn’t just diving, she was evaluated as a team member and if her team could trust her with their lives. She had to be quick and make smart decisions, be

After the five years, Diana moved back home to Canada and worked in a dive shop, continued teaching. She achieved a high standing in the PADI organization but felt she became unchallenged and bored; especially having lived in a beach house in Coral Bay in Western Australia. She had become used to living with a population of about 75 people and a real-life National Geographic show airing every day in her ocean playground outside her home.

She loved the people she worked with but needed more than the retail store.

ABOUT TO DIVE IN AND SEARCH A VAN THAT HAS GONE INTO THE FRASER RIVER CANADIAN COAST GUARD SURFACE SUPPLY DIVING

LEADING A DIVE TOUR IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA PHOT TAKEN BY YOUNG TZE KUAH

“They are stunning people, they really look out for one another and you have to. This is probably the perfect place for me in Canada.” flexible and not question each other. Trust is very important. The training with this group bonds them like nothing else. I can see how proud she is of her accomplishment, and as she should be!

Diana’s love for the water started in her 20s. She was going to the University of Victoria to become a Marine Biologist and working part-time at a car dealership. One of the mechanics there was a scuba diver. He had asked her if she had ever been scuba diving and she replied she had not, that she wanted to be a marine biologist but had never been to the ocean, as she was from Alberta.

HOVERCRAFT THE VESSEL I WORK ON, STATIONED AT THE CANADIAN COAST GUARD, SEA ISLAND

From there, she moved up to Squamish, BC and met a Coast Guard employee. It was brought to her attention that this might be something she’d be interested in applying to. Her qualifications didn’t transfer to Canadian waters so she started with fleet status and was soon able to apply for a diving job. When she found out how challenging the position would be, she decided to give it a try anyway , and has been happy ever since. However, if someone offered her visa back to Australia to be a mermaid again, she’d seriously consider it! But, for now and for what she does, she’s proud to be in the Coast Guard, working with a fantastic team people.

Her mom told her, as a child, she was pretty sure she hated the ocean! But then she began to read Jacques Cousteau’s books (which she still has to this day). She got a group of people together and they did their open water experience. The following year she used her tuition money for the next year on a trip to the Caribbe-

We chatted further about travelling the world, nudibranchs, coral and life! I could have sat there for another hour listening to her tell stories. Hopefully I’ll get a chance again to learn and find out more soon! But for now, I got to meet another bad-ass mermaid!

Thank you Diana and your team, for your service in protecting the people near and on our waters.

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Making Waves to Inspire CHANGE

By Monique Mills Captain, Ocean Citizen | Founder, Making Waves Sailing – Live to Inspire | Ambassador, The 5 Gyres Institute

I was 6 years old when my father introduced me to the taste of ocean water in the beautiful Cayman Islands. “Scoop it up and take a big drink.” My brothers coughed and sputtered. I didn’t. I liked the warm saltiness. The little prairie girl had her first formative encounter with the ocean and it was love at first kiss, and so the love affair began.

My attraction to the ocean was immediate, magnetic and magic.

I was mesmerized by the tiny fish swimming between ripples of sand. When the wave crashed over me and ploughed me into the sand I wasn’t scared and just emptied the clump of sand out of my bikini bottoms and went back for more. I was hooked, and cried when we left the shoreline then and every time thereafter.

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I grew up in a city in land-locked Alberta with National Geographic-fuelled aspirations. I was always looking to escape into the wild. Our tiny family sailboat was a perfect vessel for adventure and I loved the feeling of wind, water and freedom. I could cross the lake faster and explore more by boat than on my bike--my second choice vehicle of escape.

My first paycheque went to rent, the second paycheque went to scuba certification.Then came university, a job, a successful career and travel around the world.

Holidays were more like expeditions that often centred on diving which became more and more depressing as I became aware of the terrible state of ocean pollution.

The worst was in 2012, Manta Point, Bali, a dive spot famous for elegant manta rays which has recently become more famous in a viral video showing swirling garbage. I surfaced in trash and tears, questioning if I could ever dive again. My friend and I became very ill from surfing in the waste and toxic runoff, in what should have been a beautiful bay. We left the beach in disgust and woke the next morning with puss-filled eyes and gastric infections. Another girl developed a lung infection.

It was a moment of reckoning: cry and quit or wipe away the tears and do something. Devastating, yes, but I didn’t want to sink into futility and despair. Would I be part of the problem or part of the solution?

TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION

Two years later everything in my life collapsed. I knew I had to make something of the wreckage and the decision was mine whether it would be a crisis or an awakening. I chose the latter. I was determined to discover what it was that was eating at me. I knew I couldn’t return to my corporate career because when I thought of it, my heart hurt and my stomach soured. Clearly, my instincts were screaming. I wanted to work on my own and I had about 100 ideas.

Over the years I often said to myself that only the ocean could heal me.

With an armful of books and a giant notepad, I hopped on a plane to a tropical island where I designed my own program of salt water therapy.

Sunrise and sunset swims and meditations in between more swimming, the occasional mind-immersive, body-beating, sinus-clearing surfing session. Good food as good medicine, and reading and writing as remedy.

The revelations came. I landed my personal mantra: “I am an adventurous and playful woman seeking the peace and preservation of the natural world.”

Our mission: “Live to inspire peace and preservation.”

Through sailing and guiding guests on snorkel safaris, my goal is to inspire a deeper appreciation of the ocean. By offering opportunities to fall in love with our oceans, I hope they too will commit to protecting what they love, and join me in the quest to learn about and safeguard these precious waters.

RESPONSIBLE AND SUSTAINABLE VOYAGES

Like the earth and the ocean, my 46 foot sailboat, “My Mistress,” is a life support system; a model of sustainable living; a mini earth with limited resources essential to life.

“Take care of her and she will take care of you” is the intimacy a sailor has for her boat. I talk to her, I listen, I know her every sound and need.

Sometimes she is a demanding mistress for sure, but I love the places we can go together. There’s a euphoria to sailing as we harness the wind and zoom across the ocean, drop anchor in a secluded bay and watch as the sun sinks and the galaxy unfolds.

Join me as we island hop the beautiful Windward Islands on your choice of three yachts, a 46ft monohull, 40ft catamaran or 48ft catamaran. We also offer programs like our “Yacht & Yoga Retreat into Paradise” on a luxurious 48’ catamaran, or a more educational experience on our “Sail with a Scientist” program, a mini national geographic with a professional marine biologist. “Women! Take the Helm!” is steeped in the special camaraderie born of sailing, bringing women together in a supportive environment where each can find their own comfort and confidence.

My objective with Making Waves Sailing is to become a millionaire: I want to influence one million people and inspire them to think, act and adventure in favour of conservation.

We are facing complex and systemic issues locally and globally, particularly in sustainable development of resources and waste management.

My vision is that by helping people spend time with G.O.D.--The Great OutDoors, a place of surrender and worship, we can move towards a day when the oceans are pure and the wild is cherished for the gifts it gives us: humility, discipline, grace, respect, order in chaos, and awe-inspiring beauty.

More reading, more writing, more salt water and slowly, as I unwound my mind, heart,and soul, I forged a new, more powerful clarity of my mission.

I had passion and mission but I didn’t have the project, yet.

THE MANIFESTATION: IDEA TO ACTION

Enter, business coach, Stan Peake. He asked me one question: “If money was no object what would you do?”

“That’s easy,” I said. “I would establish a foundation, matching scientists to ocean research projects and provide funding.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Because money is an object.”

However, the discussion evolved and an idea took flight. I didn’t have millions to start a foundation, but I had access to one critical asset for exploration: a beautiful, ocean cruising 46’ sailboat.

Forty-five minutes into the meeting, Making Waves Sailing was born, offering eco-friendly sailing charters in the Caribbean with a focus on conservation and citizen science.

www.makingwavessailing.com

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AWAKENING AN ANCIENT MARINER: Falling in Love with a Boat

By Jenny Swing

m er I gave the ks drying aft

The bloc with Cetol

before launch, during what is called “fit-out” by the waterfront community here in Maine. When spring arrives, everyone works like crazy to get their boats ready for the coming season.

rnishing

all a quick va

by Jenny Swing

Magical, mysterious forces brought me a remarkable blessing that all started with a phone call four years ago. A friend rang to tell me that the owner of an extraordinary boat I knew from the boatyard had lost his wife and was looking for someone to help him with the boat. I took the leap and agreed to it, utterly unaware of what a soul-fulfilling arrangement it would come to be and what would awaken in me as a result. When I was introduced to this gaff-rigged yawl, I felt daunted by the profusion of ropes and the belaying pins, pin-rails and traditional rigging I knew nothing about, but it intrigued me.

This boat gets everything I have to give for those roughly three months that her owner and I are focused on fit-out.

We do it all, from cleaning and painting the engine room and scraping rust out of the bilges to linseed oiling the mast. Some of what she calls for feels familiar in a way, and thrilling. During those cold, early spring days the captain begins projects mostly in his wood and metal shop, fabricating the necessary new and repairing wear and tear. My work begins in the shop loft. It is “work” because it needs to be done, requires protective gear and is physically tiring, but it’s become nourishing to my soul.

For several weeks I focus entirely on varnishing and painting. Varnishing is reputed to be tedious and often dreaded for its unforgiving nature. It can be all of that when working with intricate pieces of “brightwork,” the varnished wood trim, but not with spars. Oh, how I have come to love the spars!

I have learned to do some pretty extraordinary things on this boat: make baggywrinkle, braid sennits, whip rope ends, seize lines, mouse shackles, use a marlin spike, sea-coil, daisy-chain headsails, tar shrouds, linseed oil pin-rails, bend on, set and trim six different sails including a square top, climb the rat-boards, get up on the cross-trees at the mast head, and of course, secure lines with whatever knots are called for.

Source: Shutterstock

Maple Bay, BC

Varnishing a spar wi

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The earthy smell of tar on traditional boats is delicious and when we tar the shrouds, I get covered in it and chuckle. That job also gets me climbing on the rig, which I crave. These deeply felt passions have revealed themselves as clues, visceral and cellular memories, that point to a bosun’s life. Along my soul’s journey I have surely lived as a roving sailor and relished it. Sea shanties are so dear to me, and my love for traditional maritime customs pulses again through my veins.

A spar is a pole used for a mast, boom, gaff or yard, generally made of wood. We have nine of them. To me they are absolute beauty. Elegant, shiny, sturdy, carefully crafted, the spars inspire profound delight. My hands adore being steward of them, inspecting, sanding, wiping down, varnishing and painting top to tail. There’s a dance we do together. The spars lay side-by-side on high sawhorses while

Sailing and being on the water is a perpetual yearning for me, but until this boat came along, getting out there was a patchwork of infrequent opportunities that only intensified my need for the sea. Now, and for as long as it feels right, this boat is my love. She’s an unusual vessel, steel-hulled, 42’ on deck/58’ overall with a long bowsprit, modeled after Joshua Slocum’s SPRAY, and built over 16 years by her captain. She has no lack of old maritime character, carrying two yards and setting a square topsail. At times this salty square-rigger doubles as a pirate ship for a crew of professional scalawags who ‘pillage and plunder’ for family entertainment at festivals. We reenact mini sea battles and even fire an eight-gun broadside using black powder, which is thankfully not my job.

Sailing is flying to me and both a reunion with the sea and encounter with marine wildlife. But the deep-rooted connection begins on land long

I stand next to them, rolling each one in turn with my shoulder as I meticulously apply smooth, protective coatings. I go into a bit of a trance with them. Varnishing and painting spars has evolved into an act of love and meditation. Over time I have become good at it and my heart bursts with the joy of something I enjoy doing so much becoming a skill.

Putting th cabin fo e throat halyar d fo r the win ter durin r the mainsail g down down in rig the

th heart and soul

when I finally made it up My thrilling accomplishment, sthead. I often go up and over the crosstrees at the ma rcise, the view, to take down the rat-boards for fun, exe e or fetch a line, but it took a photo, get better cell servic with a harness on and time to conquer the final piece some fierce determination.”

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Mousing shackles on

the gaff at the end of

fit-out

rinkle e new baggyw m so n o g in inSeiz rotect the ma p to e d a m e that w ffing sail from cha The reward comes when we launch, though by then I’ve forgotten she even floats. Yahoo, it’s cruising time! By choice I don’t rest until all the many lines are neatly coiled or tucked away, nothing sloppy, loose or stray. Keeping things shipshape drives me from my depths. With a time-honoured love for the lines and blocks, I instinctively became a steward of all 39 of them.

I’m comfortable at the helm in a variety of conditions, even the dicey ones. And the diesel engine is no longer a mystery. But most importantly to the boat and to my soul, I have learned to be a good mate on a complicated vessel. I’m pleased to now serve that role with strong instincts and initiative, sensibility and skill.

Underway or at anchor, that old seafarer in me is enlivened just to be with the water. Certain things make me feel powerfully at home: a good sea-swell coming across a bay; the sweet

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My freedom, my love

moan of a fog horn in the distance; the wildlife that feels like family. The sea buoys me, taking me to mystical depths,connecting me with the mythic selkies.

We’re a crew of two devoted to this boat. The captain and I are compatible, dear friends, much like brother and sister now. Our sailing partnership has empowered me in pivotal ways. I relish all I do for this boat, all that she and her captain have taught me. I thrive on the freedom she gives me in return. I talk to her and hug her like an old friend. She set my soul on fire and awakens in me an avid, ancient mariner.

May this story arouse the spirit and sensory delights of the sea for you, as well!

Right where I belong!

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Salt

Where are your operations and manufacturers?

All our design work is completed by myself on Salt Spring Island. Our clothing is sewn in Vancouver. We like to keep things close to home!

Long lasting and multifunctional are focal points of your designs, how has this affected the brand’s design process and overall look?

We believe in slow fashion, in building a wardrobe that you love that will last. From a design perspective, that means clean lines and a compatible colour palette. I derive inspiration from nature, from the colours of the ocean, and from my love of Scandinavian inspired design. We want to create pieces that you can enjoy for years. We also want your wardrobe to be simple, classic, and comfortable no matter what you’re wearing. It also means we don’t design just for the sake of newness. I take time with my decisions to create new pieces and doesn’t ascribe to the idea that seasonal fashion is necessary.

Our clothes should transition with us season to season, so we can get more wear out of a smaller closet!

By Jalila Singerff

Counting nature, sailing and love for the ocean as forefront inspirations behind the Salt Spring Island brand, comes SALT from founder and designer, Jessica Wilson. Recently expanding the Canadian clothing company to a second location in Victoria, BC, Wilson lets us in on what makes SALT a sustainably conscious label towards her growing womenswear brand.

Our readers appreciate environmentally friendly materials. Your collections use eco-conscious fabrics, what prompted this decision and what are the sustainable benefits behind it?

Why wouldn’t we? Sustainable fabrics last longer, they are better for our planet, and you feel good about your choice to dress in something that’s easier on the Earth. Choosing a sustainable fabric decreases our footprint on the Earth and her oceans. Micro-plastics leach into the ocean every time we, West Coasters, do our laundry because of all the synthetic fabrics used by so many brands. Because of this reason, and so many others, we choose fabrics such as tencel, organic cotton, and polyester-free fibers, to minimize our impact and be a part of the positive change desperately needed in the textile industry.

Ula Tee

What has inspired SALT to pursue a sustainable driven brand?

What are key inspirations behind translating the brand’s voice and image into the clothing?

Life should be both meaningful and fun! For me, just to create something has never been enough, it had to have a purpose larger than it being trendy or popular. I transitioned through three different self-built brands before settling into SALT. It was a journey for me to understand that my love of the ocean and desire to create could be merged into one entity. I love to educate people on how to live a FULL life, and I get to do that through clothing, while simultaneously teaching them how to respect our Earth’s oceans.

Community. Our clothing really is a way to build community, it’s something to get excited about. Making a purchase, wearing an item of clothing that you know is sustainable, and was made with efforts to minimize environmental impact, is something you can feel good about, and it creates meaningful conversation. We are passionate about awareness surrounding ocean conservation and we feel that is important to share. Making those conscious lifestyle choices is something people can connect about and bond over. It also gives people a platform to stand before, and a way they can show they voted for ocean conservation!

Tell us about SALT and how the brand was conceived.

How has the brand been impacted by the millennial market and online influence?

I have worked in retail and design for over a decade. SALT is the manifestation of my visions, design principles and values. I grew up on the ocean, living on an island, sailing with my family; it has always been a large part of my life.

That is where a huge part of the inspiration for this brand comes from. It also comes from a desire to connect, collaborate, and create in ways that make a difference to communities and to our planet.

How we reach customers in today’s retail market is very different than if we just had a brick and mortar shop. Today’s generation relies heavily on the opinions of their peers and they often get those opinions online. To stay competitive, keeping up with popular social media platforms and maintaining an online store is a must. It is also a great way to get feedback on new styles and interact with

Yara Tank 32 | www.barnaclebabes.com

WW.SALTSHOP.CA | INSTAGRAM @SALTSHOP.CA | FACEBOOK SALT.SHOP @SALTSHOP.CA | PINTEREST SALT:PURE GOODS

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Mizuko Jumpsuit

TOP 5 SELLING PRODUCTS Nerio Tee $58 Ula Tee $58 Yara Tank $58 Pacific Sweater $108 Fjord Box Top $68 Adriatic Dress $84

Lana Tank

Pacific Sweater

our customers to figure out what is important to them. However, we are a people first platform, and if we can reach out and create community in person, that will always be our goal! We much prefer to connect in person and get to know the people who are living lives that are in line with our values.

That is where the real magic happens!

Mizuko Jumpsuit $165 (Has only been in stores for a few weeks, but is tracking to be a top seller!)

Nerio Tee

With today’s society rapidly taking notice at the negative connotations surrounding fast fashion, how do you anticipate your growth opportunities and what does sustainability mean to your business?

I can’t deny that if people and trends moved towards slow fashion, it would create growth for SALT’s business, but I don’t really think about it much. I have been creating slow, sustainable fashion for 13 years, it's a part of who I am. Growing my business isn’t at the forefront of my mind so much as spreading the message to live a conscious, low-impact life that helps save our oceans!

As for sustainability, again it is about the meaning we find in life. I have genuine connections with my friends and family, so I look at the sustainability of SALT as a way of having a genuine connection with my work that is about more than paying bills! Cause let’s face it, if I was in this just to pay the bills, I would probably quit and go live in the woods!

What do you think “ethical fashion” will mean for the next generation?

It will hopefully be something they are very conscious of. There is a lot to do to clean up the planet that we’ve made a mess of, and

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What can we expect to see from SALT?

finally, it is a global conversation. Right now, purchasing ethically and sustainably is something you really must choose to do.

Hopefully the fashion industry will make a shift towards responsible ways of production in such a big way, that in the future shopping ethically will be the norm, as opposed to something you must make an effort to do. Unfortunately, that shift might not happen entirely within the next generation, but we think they will have a lot to do with the progression needed to make it so.

What is your personal favourite piece?

My favourite piece is our Nerio Tee - I wear it every day!

Building community is a huge part of what we are excited about for our future, especially with our new location in Victoria. You will see us reaching out to involve as many people as we can in events, discussions, and movements focused around ocean conservation. We have lots of ideas!

We will also be expanding our men’s line within the next year… and maybe even adding some kids wear too!

And now for fun, if you could raid anyone’s closet, who's would it be?!

My best friend Caitlin, her style always inspires me!

Where can reader purchase your product: In store: 153 Lower Ganges Rd , Salt Spring Island 813 Fort St, Victoria Online at www.saltshop.ca

Adriatic Dress

WW.SALTSHOP.CA | INSTAGRAM @SALTSHOP.CA | FACEBOOK SALT.SHOP @SALTSHOP.CA | PINTEREST SALT:PURE GOODS

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7 Tips To Manage Stress This Fall

1.Cleanse: lets face it. Many of us practice some not so healthy habits over the summer. Whether you spent too many days on patios having drinks with friends, or eating a lot of not-so-good-for-you foods, it’s always good to give the liver a break from the toxins and the chemicals.

Summer and the Christmas holiday season tend to be the two times we overdo these things. Maybe you decide just to drink more water and eat cleaner foods for a week, or maybe you decide to go all out and try a three day fast, focus on cleaning out your liver and rebuilding your immune system.

By Kelli Sroka

2.Exercise:

simple, fun, effective. Again, this looks different for every person. You may prefer a gentle yin yoga practice, while others feel called to crush it at cross fit this fall. Whatever it is that excites you and ignites you, commit yourself to it fully. Physical activity helps bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins.

3.Journal:

The daylight hours slowly start to fade, the leaves on the trees begin to burst full of bright colours, and we know that we enter a time of transition. We say goodbye to summer, and we turn our attention and focus onto welcoming fall. However, this time of transition can sometimes be overwhelming for some, whether our journeys take us away from the beach and the barbeques and back to school, or longer hours in the office, or maybe even the start of a new project. Whatever changes you face in your own life, it is imperative

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to create a plan and a support system to keep yourself happy, healthy, and vibrant in order to be able to fully apply yourself to your mission ahead.

The most important thing to consider when we do anything, is intention. Going into anything with clear intention is critical if we are looking to be effective and seeking specific outcomes. However, intention is not enough on its own. We need to cultivate a daily practice that allows us to flow in a healthy state of body, mind and soul, and we need to formu-

late habits, disciplines, and support systems, which we can use as tools when life throws us challenges. When we become stressed, we often become immobile, ineffective, and even sometimes sick. Let us not get stuck in dark and ugly places or suffer from paralysis by analysis. Let us seek healthy habits now so as the seasons change, we can also work to make great change within the world, and within ourselves. With the change of each season, I invite you to integrate these 7 approaches to bring balance and manage stress to life:

This is easier for some of us than others. Make this a daily habit. Sometimes it is hard for us to talk about our feelings, and to dig down deep when we are triggered by something to find its root cause. Your journal is your safe and personal space to release your stress and frustrations. It will never judge you. Morning pages are a great way to start your day, and to set an intention.

Hold yourself accountable.

4.Float:

experience NOTHING. Have you ever spent time in a sensory deprivation tank? It’s the most effective way you can manage your stress as a busy professional. As a species, we spend the vast majority of our time operating in alpha and beta brain wave cycles. Our minds our busy with mindless banter and chatter. Work, chores, emotional insecurities, these types of thought patterns do not allow us to enter a healing state, and stress begins to build. This, of course,

affects the overall health of our minds and our bodies. When we isolate ourselves from activating our senses, we are able to tap into a deeper state of being, and we experience theta and delta brain wave cycles. Our parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, and this is when the deep healing begins. It is so easy to distract ourselves with things such as social media, food, alcohol, marijuana, or even sex, when we become stressed, so that we don’t have to deal with the cause of it. I invite you to allow yourself the space to reflect, release, restore, and reset the mind, body, and soul.

5.Meditate: meditation is known as the great medicine. When we shine a light and bring awareness to our inner world, we can heal most things.

Many think that mediation is clearing all thoughts from the mind. While that sounds beautiful in theory, that is much more difficult in practice, and is not the point of meditating. As we sit with our thoughts, we simply observe. Watch and see what comes up, and begin to release the thoughts that do not serve you. Bring awareness into your life. Start with a ten to fifteen minute practice. Imagine arriving to work fifteen minutes early, and sitting in your car meditating before heading up to your office. Those fifteen minutes will bring you clarity, insight, and a certain type of calmness, which will have a powerful impact on your daily stress levels.

6.Find balance: this one is

especially tricky. It is so easy to immerse ourselves in the things that we do. Sometimes we get wrapped up in our work, and we unconsciously start to neglect the other aspects of our lives, leaving our friends, family, health, and even our own personal pleasures in the dark. If you find that there just isn’t enough time in the day, the issue is not with time itself, but simply with the way you are utilizing your time. Remember, your outer world is a direct reflection of your inner world.

7.Tap into your creative energy: find your flow.

When we become tired, overworked, and busy, we fall out of our flow state. Operating from this space becomes hurtful for our soul because we naturally go into an automatic, masculine state, and we cannot access our creative process. Try an activity twice a week that allows your inner child to come out and play. Paint, sing, dance, use your hands to actually make something, cook something you’ve never made before. Find an outlet for at least thirty minutes each time and get out of your analytical mind. The key component to this exercise is to find something you actually enjoy, and enjoy it.

As I observe the effectiveness and happiness of the game changers, the creative masterminds, the unbelievable mothers of our world, the hard working professionals, the entrepreneurs, I notice that the major contributing factor to reducing stress is finding balance. A great way to measure where you are at with these things is to use the moon cycle as a guideline, or indicator. Use the new moon to set your intentions and to plant your seeds for the upcoming cycle. Be very clear in what you ask for. Begin your cleanse or a new activity, use this time to dive in deep.

As the moon cycle progresses, check in with yourself. How do you feel? Is there something that is working for you? Is there something you can let go of in your life that is not serving you, that is preventing you from achieving your goals? Once the moon is full, that is the time we harvest what we have planted. This is the time to celebrate abundance. How is your connection to your mind, body, and soul?

How is your breath? It’s not stress that kills us. It’s our reaction to it. Keep these tools in your toolbox this fall so when something comes up, you can move through it and return to a place of balance.

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“WHEN YOU LEAVE THE QUAYSIDE, YOU LEAVE BEHIND THE STRESSES OF EVERYDAY LIFE, ANY SAILOR WILL TELL YOU THAT." "If you multiply that sense of freedom a thousand times, that's how I feel. I leave behind my wheelchair, a team of carers and suddenly it's just me."

BARNACLE BABES

Jewellery

Inspired by our powerful oceans, protecting the deepest treasures of our planet, we present to you the Barnacle Babes Jewellery Collection. Starting with the necklace, we have created you a talisman intended to amplify your heart, propelling you to speak your truth fearlessly! Each piece is handcrafted in Vancouver, BC to the highest quality out of sterling silver featuring a fresh water pearl. From our hearts to yours, we wish to empower you, inspire you, support you, and cherish you. Together, we are strong. Together, we are Barnacle Babes.

By Hilary Lister, female quadriplegic solo sailor, who just recently passed away at the age of 46.

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This collection is a collaboration between Ethos Myth Design and Barnacle Babes.

ETHOS MYTH DESIGN INC WWW.ETHOSMYTH.COM

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Individuals can find 'pocket ash trays' and free shipping labels to help collect and mail in their waste to TerraCycle's recycling facility.

Businesses (as well as festivals and events) can purchase a recycling receptacle for their location, and sponsor receptacles in their local communities to help prevent littering.

Recycling cigarette butts requires ZERO change to a business' operations, and opens HUGE marketing opportunities. Recycling cigarette butts can be a real gateway for businesses to pursue more sustainable operations, and attain an Oceanic Standard eco-label.

Cigarette butts are the single most commonly found item during beach cleanups.

Now these cleanups have the ability to recycle the cigarette butts they find―and to amplify their message to prevent littering in the first place by sharing pictures and videos.

NO EXCUSES

The next step is definitely for cigarette companies to explore alternative materials for today's plastic butts, but in the meantime, people need to accept responsibilty for their actions. You wouldn't throw a water bottle out your car window, so why throw a cigarette butt when it can be recycled?

There's even a theme park in France that has trained crows to collect cigarette butts.

If crows can do it, why can't we?

WHAT'S OUR EXCUSE?

WHY CIGARETTE BUTTS ARE THE NEXT PLASTIC STRAW SOLVING THE WORLD'S BIGGEST LITTERING PROBLEM WITH #NOMOREBUTTS

By Brian Yurasits from the TerraMar Project, www.theterramarproject.org/no-more-butts Bans on plastic straws have inspired a worldwide war against plastic pollution in our oceans. And the next battle to fight is cleaning the most-littered item on beaches around the planet: Cigarette butts.

Cigarette butts are actually a form of plastic pollution that can be recycled! That's nearly 5 trillion cigarette butts littering our coastlines that can be given new life. Butts don't only break down - contributing to microplastics in our oceans, but they release toxins into the water. The filters contain thousands of chemical ingredients: including arsenic, lead, nicotine and ethyl phenol, which all leak into aquatic environments.

In one lab study, a single cigarette butt placed into one litre of water killed half of all exposed marine and freshwater fish.

SO HOW DO WE EVEN BEGIN TO ADDRESS THIS ARMY OF WASTE?

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A SOLUTION

To solve this problem, we need a combination of Advocacy and Action.

Enter #NoMoreButts.

Uniting disjointed efforts to curb cigarette butt pollution across the world, The TerraMar Project's #NoMoreButts campaign focuses on two issues.

1. Cigarette butt pollution as the only socially normal form of littering. Everyone does it in plain sight and nobody says a thing.

2. There aren't enough alternative options readily available to smokers to help them dispose of their waste.

TerraMar works with individuals, businesses, and beach cleanups to help collect and recycle cigarette butt waste.

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MY SAILBOAT; AN ODE TO BECKY The adVANtures of a wild woman.

By Kelli Sroka

Kelli looking over …

My sailboat is a van. A 1989 GMC Vandura, in fact. My ocean are the endless, vast roads, the jagged mountain peaks, the old growth forests, full of flora and fauna. The wind that blows my sails in whatever direction it feels called, is my heart.

Female Bighorn Sheep, Jasper National Park

In this vast search for serenity, I fail to find any true sanctuary. And as I roam through desolate landscapes, what I imagined to be untouched wilderness turn out to be ravaged valleys and chiseled peaks. Remote rivers and lakes stained with the

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PORTUGAL

reminisce of industry. No mountain unclimbed, no mountain unmined. Nothing left to discover out here so I turn inwards.

I watch myself move across land, breaking all the rules. Wild woman, condemned to a life filled with back country roads and parking tickets.

Female Moose – Jasper National Park Becky in Jasper National Park

Ericeira,

Jasper National Park

Just outside of Ericeira in the small fishing village of Sao Lourenço along the famous Portuguese coastline that encompasses the World Surf Reserve, is Ondina Guesthouse, a wonderful stay which provides an ideal base for the ultimate surf trip.

For more information heck out:

This Portuguese, family-run house decorated with wooden, all handmade furniture has a big communal living room, dining room with bar and a sunny rooftop terrace with ocean view; perfect for after surf relaxing or stargazing. All rooms - double and shared― have en-suite bathrooms.

www.ondinaguesthouse.com

Yoga classes - including Aerial and Acrobatic - are available in the on-site yoga studio, as well as beginner surf lessons, massages, SUPing, guided hikes, and even Portuguese lessons. Surf/ yoga package deals for individuals or groups are available on request.

Website:

Instagram:

@ondina_ericeira Facebook:

Ondina Café - Bar- Rooms

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YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW”

By Sandy Dupleich

My husband I had owned our 18 foot Bayliner open-bow runabout for almost a year. We spent time running our boat on Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish and had even taken it to Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington. With our newfound confidence, we decided to start doing a little boating in the Puget Sound. Alki in West Seattle, Poulsbo and Langley were new destinations - we had the boating bug and we had it bad!

We had a long weekend coming up and decided to drop the boat in at Anacortes and take it over to Friday Harbor for the weekend.

We packed up our things, our one-year-old son, Nick, our Chihuahua, Paco and headed out for a fun adventure. It was early July and the weather was beautiful with little wind to speak of as we launched our boat from Anacortes. We aall had our PFDs on, the sun was sparkling on the water and we were on our way!

As we crossed Rosario Strait the water was flat and calm with just a light ruffling of wind. We entered the San Juan Islands through Thatcher Pass, just South of Blakely Island. We followed our handheld GPS unit with a black and white screen that didn’t have marine charts. I believe our thinking at the time was that our boat had a draft of about one foot and if we stayed in the middle of the channel and followed other boats, we’d be fine, right?

We rounded the northern tip of Lopez Island and entered the San Juan Channel. I remember looking around at the water and thinking the seas looked a bit “confused,” with currents colliding and appearing in places as though the water was boiling. We remarked at what a different experience it was from lake boating and how fun and interesting it was to see the islands from the water instead of from a large ferry. We had grins from ear to ear as we arrived in Friday Harbor for the weekend. We stayed in a local hotel and thoroughly enjoyed our time together, discovering all that Friday Harbor had to offer.

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On Sunday we returned to Anacortes following our GPS track from Friday’s trip. Our return trip was unremarkable and we returned home, tired, happy and looking forward to the next trip on our boat.

Looking back on that first of many trips to the San Juan Islands, I now realize how incredibly lucky we were to encounter such good weather, calm waters and lack of commercial traffic while in transit to Friday Harbor. Rosario Strait is notorious for swells and wind waves that can build to four to five feet or more. There were so many hazards we avoided, such as dense fog, wind waves over the bow, losing our way--all could have spelled disaster for our family. We were both fortunate and a little foolish on that trip and thankfully realized that we needed a larger boat before venturing out that far again.

We didn’t know how crazy we were and didn’t realize how many chances we were taking. You don’t know what you don’t know, so before you get out on the water, learn as much as you can and don’t allow your desire for adventure to get ahead of making good decisions. Stay safe out there!

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Northern Norway, when not in the water with Orcas and Humpbacks with friends

Sailing on Lake Champlain

ANGELA ROWLAND

Salty

Warriors

Deal Island Harbor, MD Helen Virginia Skipjack

MELISSA BAILEYDESCOTEAUX

Jenny off the Coast of Maine

JENNY SWING JILLIAN MORRIS-BRAKE

Choptank River, MD Skipjack Nathan

JILLIAN MORRIS-BRAKE

Jillian with hammerhead

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Sea, surf, silliness, active volcanoes, wild dolphins, geckos, ecosystems galore, desert, tropical rainforest, waterfalls, swaying palm trees, famous Kona coffee, fish, manta rays, mermaids, sea turtles, white sand beaches, black sand beaches, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, meditating, macadamia nuts, papaya, ancient Hawaiian villages, sea cliffs, local markets, nature sounds, coral reef creatures, boat trips, delicious fresh food, world’s largest active volcano (and presently very active!), music, dancing, artisans, pu'u huluhulu, Kilauea crater, sun sand, trees that can hold their breath, underwater photo tips, breathe, relax, connect camaraderie, explore, expand, SEA IT! Join Barnacle Babe's Founder, Jodi Mossop and under water photographer, Susan Knight, on

The Big Island of Hawaii, November 11 - 17th, 2018 Find out more by contacting info@barnaclebabes.com or visit www.BarnacleBabes.com/retreats