The International Herald Tribune, August 28, 2008
Basking in the Sunshine Coast
As printed in the global edition

It's a summer afternoon along the rugged, rocky Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, just two hours northwest of Vancouver, and my friend Courtney and I have just cruised into a place called Secret Cove. In truth, it does feel like a secret. As we nimbly paddle our sea kayaks from bay to bay and navigate around little islands and inlets, the closest we come to encountering other people is the occasional far-off sailboat sighting. A bald eagle swoops into the dense green trees to our left; to our right, a gull wrestles with a fish in a tangle of seaweed. As I run my paddle through the silvery blue water, I feel that each swell has a weight to it, the sheen like the back of a whale. The surface gleams like liquid hematite.