My new home has inspired me to read about the sea. I hope one or several of these books take your fancy and you find them as enjoyable as I did.
Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper, Caroline Woodward
If you've ever daydreamed about looking after a lighthouse, Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper is the book for you. Caroline Woodward and her husband have spent over 8 years working at British Columbia lighthouses. In a conversational style, Woodward gives a good idea of what is involved – from ensuring a supply of food, gardening, and cooking to the physical work involved in maintaining a lighthouse station. You’re isolated; it’s hard work; but some people love it.
For a visual perspective, the lighthouse keeper at Boat Bluff Lighthouse will take you on a tour of his station.
The Curious World of Seaweed, Josie Iselin
Iselin is passionate about seaweed and The Curious World of Seaweed captured my imagination – sea lettuce and nori are only two cells thick, for example. And then there is the extremely complicated two-stage reproductive process of bull kelp and nori. The illustrations are excellent and Iselin provides background on early adventurers who gave a name to different seaweeds.
I based an article about Pacific Coast seaweeds for EcoFriendly West on this book. It’s a fascinating subject. They’re not plants but algae. At some stage they acquired the ability to create energy through photosynthesis by acquiring bacteria that contain a light-harvesting pigment. Green seaweeds rely on chlorophyll, which is most effective at absorbing daylight in shallow surface waters. You’ll find other colours of seaweed farther out as brown, red, and blue pigments have evolved to capture the shorter wavelengths of light that penetrate deep water.
Seaweed: An Enchanting Miscellany, Miek Zwamborn
Seaweed: An Enchanting Miscellany is a small, personal account of the author’s relationship with seaweed. She talks about collecting seaweed, its history, and its place in poetry and art. There is a selection of seaweed recipes as well.
The Salish Sea
A book and an article brought home to me what a unique environment exists along the coast of British Columbia. A twisting, sparsely populated shoreline and a multitude of small sheltered islands makes it the ideal home for birds and other wildlife. Its shores contain the “world’s largest surviving tracts of ancient temperate rainforest. In the oceans, heavily exploited as they are, currents and associated upswelling still drive highly productive marine ecosystems that are characterized by their abundance and diversity of wildlife”.
At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast by Caroline Fox is an account of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation surveys that she participated in to get an idea of how many birds still live in this area. The surveys are important. Unless you know what you have, you can’t know what you stand to lose due to increased shipping traffic and other human activity. The sheer number of birds and the miles they travel emphasized for me the importance of protecting this fragile area.
An interview with Dr. Briony Penn, naturalist, writer, educator, and broadcaster, explores through words and sketches the unique ecosystem of the forested islands in the Salish Sea. I was particularly taken by her sketches of mosses, lichens, and aquatic amphibians.
