lyrics

We have seen some things together
Dancing diamonds beyond the pale
Ever changing just like the weather
Long may you sail

Owner and captain of the Maple Leaf, Kevin Smith bought the ship in 2001 and now runs tours through many of the areas he worked for years to protect. Kevin worked on the central coast "Great Bear Rainforest" land use plan, as well as working as a BC government steward the marine parks of northern Vancouver Island.

The Maple Leaf was built in 1904 as a luxury sailboat and won all sorts of prestigious awards and races. Then in 1919, the ship was converted to a fishing vessel and pulled in thousands of halibut on BC's central and north coast. Read the history of the Maple Leaf

Rachel Carson, dubbed the grandmother of the modern environmental movement is famous for her book Silent Spring, but she is a marine biologist who wrote many books about the sea, including “The Sea Around Us”

For 50 years you were a fishing boat
Braving the storms blowin’ a gale
Through thick and thin, you stayed afloat
Long may you sail

Long may you sail
Long may you said
In the realm of the killer whale
With your captain proudly
At the helm
Long may you sail

Wildlife abounds in the sea around us
Whispering songs of life along their track
The ocean inspires us.
She feeds and takes care of us.

Now it’s our turn to give back.

The ocean isn't just a pretty view. For a look at all the things the ocean provides for us, see this report I co-wrote at the David Suzuki Foundation.

Top things you can do for the ocean right now:

- Commit to eating vegetarian food, or sustainable caught seafood (see www.seachoice.org or download the Seachoice app)
Eat local & organic (and/or grow your own). Pesticide run off and hormones in our ocean systems are wreaking havoc for marine wildlife
Ride your bike instead of driving (our oceans are becoming acidic from all the carbon emissions in the air and killing our shelled sealife!)
Refuse single-use plastic. See Plastic Manners for ideas on going plastic-free.

OrcaLab has been studying orca vocalization for 40 years in the Broughton Archipelago. With underwater microphones, OrcaLab studies Orcas 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without interfering at all with the animals.

At the end of the summer, I travelled on the Maple Leaf for a week through the magical Broughton Archipelago (view MAP) off the north east end of Vancouver Island.