Discover Sooke

The entrepreneurial women of Canada’s West Coast seaweed culture.

Christine Hopkins, owner of “From the Garden at French Beach“, forwarded this wonderful article to me written by Andrew Princz, editor of the travel portal, ontheglobe.com

Andrew came to Sooke last month to write an article about the “Seaweed Ladies of Sooke” and you can read more on this piece from his website. Here is a small teaser with a link to the full article.

I suggest reading it in full as it’s a great piece showcasing some amazing and unique things offered on the best coast of our west coast.

Andrew Princz writes:

“I was taken aback when I caught sight of Amanda in her wetsuit at Muir Creek. The only clue that I was at the right place was her long dreadlocks that spread out wildly from her thick bush of hair. She was waiting for me in her tightly fitting wetsuit that revealed the silhouette of a true-to-life mermaid with her young daughters Mahina and Nesika milling about the beach with a friend in the distance.

Not being in tune with the tidal patterns of the ocean, the migration of the birds or even the frigid temperatures of the waters here, I suddenly realized how awkward my request had been to actually ask her to plunge into the sea. I had met Herbalist Amanda Swinimer of Dakini Tidal Wilds haphazardly in an airport mini-bus in Toronto, and was enraptured by her stories of seaweed culture and the small community of Sooke that sustained it. I had imagined that the sea was Amanda’s element. What I hadn’t considered was that it was early February, and the water temperature was about forty degrees and her underwater garden would largely be in hibernation.

No bothers, she seemed to have thought. Amanda is one of the seaweed ladies of Sooke. The ocean is her garden. While it may not yet be green or even plush, I seemed to have enticed her curiosity about just what was going on under the cold and salty waters at Muir Creek these days. ”

Please click here to read the entire article in full.

For more information on the Sooke area, please visit the official Discover Sooke Online website.

Filed under: Latest News, Questions and Comments on March 11th, 2009