Hands up to www.treehugger.com for this wicked cool photo!

Help me. I have a confession.

I am Canadian and I’m afraid of the water. No joke. The wet stuff makes me shake at the knees.

Not the kind that cools you off in the shower during a West Coast heat wave or falls out of the sky during a solid week of East Coast rain.  No, no. My fear has more to do with the rather large bodies of water that bookend our coastlines, both east and west, and surround our north. You see, it’s the fact that, when I swim in the ocean or look over a ferry railing, I don’t really know what’s below me. A combination of Hollywood (thank you Steven Spielberg) and my not-so-superb-swimming-skills mixed with a couple of bad experiences including a high school skinny dipping incident that resulted in my rescue by far more people I’d care to think have seen me naked that may be responsible for my fear of water…yup, that sounds ‘bout right.

I’m missing a few cojones when it comes to our great outdoors – out the door and on land, I’m laughing. But ask me to go wading into one of the Great Lakes, and I’d sooner talk about my most embarrassing high school moments…. check!

Lately, however, I’ve been feeling a little braver – like taking care of business. Maybe it’s all Elizabeth Hay’s fault and her novel Late Nights on Air, painting pictures in my head of what it’s like to glide along the surface of an ocean. Or maybe (and most likely) it’s this new project that I’ve begun working on called The Big Wild. It’s the brainchild and now teenage-project between Mountain Equipment Co-op and Canadian Parks and Wilderness. When you add your voice to The Big Wild, you’re plugging into a pipeline that will lead you to different conservation campaigns running right across the country. Ultimately, The Big Wild wants to see half of Canada’s wild spaces protected and that’s only going to happen if we get a lot – and I mean hundreds of thousands of people in on it – people like me, a passive conservationist who’s pretty excited about her first kayaking trip. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve replaced all my light bulbs with energy efficient ones and I use cloth bags when I shop. But you can’t help but think about the bigger picture when you plan a trip like that: the water-way I’m paddling, the fish beneath it, the protection it has and whether future generations will have the same opportunity to concur their fears in just such a way. I may not always know what’s below me as I paddle down Indian Arm, but now I know what’s at stake.

Wow. That’s deep. Like, dark-scary-water-deep.

That’s why I’m going to take the plunge (I’m not sure that’s the right word) and set out in an open ocean Kayak with gumboot editor, Kurt Heinrich (Did someone say pictures?) That’s a big step, right? An important step, as I continue to think about how my daily routines peppered with new adventures have an impact on Canada’s wild spaces. I’m a conservationist in the making!

As for the whole fear thing? Well, I figure the adrenaline will top it and instinct will kick in when Hollywood and high school rear their ugly heads out of the water.

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