Salish Sea Expedition with Canadian Geographic
Departing April 18, 2024
THIS TRIP IS SOLD OUT
Join us for a profound odyssey through the Salish Sea’s history and natural wonders, in peak wildflower and wildlife season. While this is the place where Canada’s Pacific history began, this trip goes deeper, into Coast Salish history that’s existed since time immemorial.
On this special trip with Canadian Geographic Adventures, you’ll explore this cross-boundary region that is gaining international attention. On a 5-day expedition cruise, you’ll visit remote, natural and historic islands that are off the ferry routes and that most never get a chance to see. You’ll learn of Canada’s history in the region, as well as the history that’s existed far longer, the Coast Salish history, and explore the area’s many natural wonders.
Here, snow-capped mountains in southern British Columbia and Washington State ring an inland sea, full of intricate waterways that wind among hundreds of warm islands. Upwelling creates food for the inhabitants of a rich marine world: mammals, seabirds, fish and others.
Itinerary
- Day 1:Board in Victoria. Cruise to seabird island, Russel Island and shore walk with Salish and Kanaka history
- Day 2: Cruising spectacular Samsun Narrows, with history of European/Canadian exploration, and coastal First Nations history
- Day 3: Exploring the outer islands on the edge of the ‘big sea’, Georgia Strait
- Day 4: Exploring Gulf Islands National Park Reserve on the remote south end of Saturna Island
- Day 5: Morning shore walk, optional kayaking, wrap-up and cruising to Sidney, watching for wildlife
Meet your RCGS Travel Ambassador
Abi Hayward
Abi Hayward is an award-winning journalist and associate editor at Canadian Geographic magazine. Her writing has appeared in Canadian Geographic, The Walrus, The Tyee and The Guardian.
Abi writes about science, society, the sea, and everything in between. She grew from the limestone of Yorkshire, England, up towards rain-swollen clouds, cultivating a healthy appreciation of the sun — and an eye for stories untold. Abi followed a fascination with science first to Sheffield, England, to pursue a BSc in Zoology. But after studying the behaviour of creatures from pufferfish to hermit crabs, she realized that she was less a scientist than a writer.
She pursued this calling across the Atlantic Ocean, to the western side of Canada, where rainclouds cast a familiar grey glow over a rugged panorama of sea and sky. In Vancouver, B.C., she graduated with a master’s degree in journalism. Abi’s journalism has taken her from the coastline of B.C. to the shores of Senegal and The Gambia. She has covered stories from beachcombing and sea sponges to a global investigation into the trade of fishmeal — the latter in collaboration with NBC News and the Global Reporting Program. The project received several awards, as well as nominations from the Digital Publishing Awards, Emerge Media, One World Media, the Online Journalism Awards, and the Canadian Association of Journalists.
Abi now lives in Ottawa and enjoys collaborating with colleagues, editors, writers, cartographers, illustrators and knowledge keepers as part of her role at Canadian Geographic. She loves the land we call Canada — and helping to tell its stories to Canadians and the world.