"Is this thing still on?"

Yeow. My first post in three years. So much has happened...

Hana and I are now into our fourth year of west-coast life here in Bamfield. It's quirky and beautiful and wild and remote.

And we love it.

At the mouth of Bamfield Inlet, looking northwest towards the Deer Group
and Broken Group Islands

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When we first arrived, we spent a few weeks living in a cabin at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre before moving into a house next to the water on the east side of the inlet. We bought a car (!) and soon acquired a cat (Marley—a 15-year-old Maine Coon tom). After a couple of months of adjustment, we found our groove and soon learned to migrate to warmer (or dryer, at least) climes during our winter down time:

Cholla, Joshua Tree National Park, California

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We began documenting our experiences in a new blog, and although our busy work lives make regular updates a challenge, it still sees a little love every once in a while.

After a couple of years as manager of the research department at BMSC, I switched roles to join Hana as a marine science educator in the Public Education Program. We spend most of our time teaching and working with grade school students, undergraduates, and families from BC and Alberta (primarily, although we sometimes welcome groups from further afield: we just said goodbye to a wonderful group of college students from Arkansas). I also help coordinate the BMSC Live program connecting schools with our internet-broadcast live labs and dives here at the Marine Sciences Centre.

The work is challenging and immensely rewarding, with lots of opportunities to learn (and teach) new things with the breathtaking Pacific Northwest as our classroom. I also get to reference HP Lovecraft on a fairly regular basis too, so that's good.

"Oh, R'lyeh?"

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This summer, Hana and I will be developing and teaching our first course together: Science and the Sea, a non-majors course for undergraduates in the arts and humanities who need science credit to complete their degree.

The course will run for six weeks in the final block of the summer alongside other BMSC courses such as Paleo-ecology of Marine Environments, Coastal Field Archaeology, and Coastal Biodiversity and Conservation. We're hoping for an eclectic mix of students and opportunities to bring students together from the different courses.

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Outside of our work with the Public Education Program and our summer course, Hana teaches Directed Studies as part of BMSC's undergraduate Fall Program, manages the east-side community garden, and assists with the operations of Canadian Kelp Resources. She has also recently launched her own business: Sitka Careers.

Both of us sit as Directors on the board of our local community school association; I also teach at the school when time permits.

Bamfield Community School

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I've found the time to get back into photography—this time with better equipment—as well as cultivate an enormous beard. I've also been writing and recording my own tunes after a long hiatus. Here's a recent number:

With many musicians in town there are lots of opportunities to get together and play. After a few jams, Chumbucket was formed, initially to play for an open-air party on Canada Day, but we stuck around for a couple of years and filled the hole left by The Broken Group after their members relocated to the mainland or elsewhere on the island.

Here's our cover of "Thang" by The Modeens:

While current federal government policies are making life difficult for Canadian scientists and science institutions, I remain cautiously optimistic about our future in Bamfield and that of BMSC, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.

We have something truly special here which deserves to flourish: students, researchers, and visitors often refer to their experiences in our unique coastal town, without hyperbole, as "life-changing".

It's a place, and life, worth celebrating.