Year: 2020

In The Press

Why did you learn to dive and where did your adventure take you?

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“Why did you learn to dive and where did your adventure take you?”

This is the question Shearwater Research, a Canadian company who designs and manufactures technical dive computers and electronic control systems for rebreather manufacturers, asked several well-known figures from the international scuba diving community and the Shearwater team.

Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erBakhvAADo

Given that we had been experiencing weeks on end with rain here in Vancouver around the time I made this video, I could not film my segment in the great outdoors. So, I chose to wax poetic while seated in the Terra Incognita Explorers Bar at stately Britnell Manor. Enjoy!

Shearwater Research

Mucho thanks to Shearwater Research for their efforts to keep us all connected during this world pandemic. We are all connected!

Published Work

Big Picture in Canadian Geographic!

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My image of a red eye medusa jellyfish is the “Big Picture” featured in a double-page spread of the July/August 2020 issue of Canadian Geographic, a magazine of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Canadian Geographic has been making Canada better known to Canadians and the world since is was first published in May 1930. The publication is the authoritative source for all things geography, wildlife and environment, climate and energy, travel, culture and exploration in Canada.

Life As It Happens

Proud to be Mobby’s Ambassadors

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Mobby’s

It is a distinct honour for both Kathryn and I to announce we are now Ambassadors for Mobby’s the largest dry suit, wetsuit, and marine sports accessories manufacturer in Japan.

This has been in place for a while. but due to the COVID pandemic some plans were delayed. Now, it’s looking like we will be able to get in the ocean this summer so we can put our Croco Dry FZ drysuits to the test.

Gratitude

Our deepest respect and heartfelt thank you to Mobby’s CEO & President, Mamoru Yasuda san, for the faith he has placed in us. Mr. Yasuda founded Mobby’s in 1963 from his home village of Miyagi, a serene fishing community in Northern Japan’s Sendai district. A legend in the world’s diving community… he is someone whom we hope to have the pleasure to meet in person someday soon. 

In the meantime, some of our pictures were featured in Mobby’s catalogue which we just love.

Also, many thanks to our friends Michel Joseph and George Klikach for introducing us to Mobby’s and their drysuits!

Published Work

Gearing Up For A Polar Expedition Cruise

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Editor’s Picks

“Gearing Up For A Polar Expedition Cruise” is our latest Luxe Beat Third Age Expeditions column  has just been published. And we have another “Editor’s Picks” feature!

Third Age Expeditions May 2020 – Jett Britnell

Not unlike during the “Heroic Age” of polar exploration over just over a century ago, participating in a modern-day polar expedition cruise does require substantially more planning than a vacation trip to Greece or Hawaii.

Link to article: Here

Life As It Happens

League of Underwater Explorers

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“To figuratively stand upon the shoulders of great explorers, one must venture outdoors and seize the opportunity to explore the world that surrounds them. In truth, that’s all we ever did. Explore.. Dream… Discover.”

~ Jett Britnell

Kathryn and I both feel honoured to be part of a fraternity that is EXPLOCEAN’s LEAGUE OF UNDERWATER EXPLORERS. Thank you to our long time friend, Bill Nadeau, for the invitation to join such an illustrious band of undersea explorers.

League of Underwater Explorers

EXPLOCEAN and the LEAGUE OF UNDERWATER EXPLORERS primary mandate is to create opportunities for all people to discover our world by promoting underwater exploration. Our objective is to empower future generations to leave a legacy of ecological sustainability and inspire them to take stewardship of the planet and all its waterways by sharing our own discoveries.

More info: Here

Published Work

Cold Coast: Exploring Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago

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Feel the Polar Bug

Our latest “Third Age Expeditions column” in Luxe Beat Magazine is published online today and we have made the “Editor’s Picks.” “Cold Coast: Exploring Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago” summarizes our polar cruising expedition in August 2019 with PolarQuest, a world leading operator of small ship expedition cruises in Svalbard. If you have ever dreamed of taking the trip of a lifetime, this adventure will leave you with a severe case of “Polar Bug.” To discover what that is, you will have to read to the end of the article. This story also includes numerous images that Kathryn made including this polar bear. Looking at her beautiful image captures makes me want to go back… and perhaps insist that we start co-branding our images.

Life As It Happens

Explorers Talk Memories

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“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Arthur Ward

On the same day we learned the 116th Explorers Club Annual Dinner in New York City slated for March 21st had been postponed until October 10th due to growing concerns over the outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Winter 2020 Issue of The Explorers Log arrived in the mail.

As I thumbed through the pages, I came across the pages containing highlights from the various chapters. A thank you to my friend and Canadian Chapter Chair, George Kourounis, who gave us and the Explorer Club Fellows (Phil Nuytten, Isabelle Groc & Jude Isabella) who presented at our “Explorers Talk” evening last November at the Vancouver Aquarium’s Theatre.

As people know, I was hospitalized in September and was still recovering from the after effects of a severe blood infection in the weeks leading up to this event. Some asked… understandably given my physical condition at the time… if I was going to cancel the event? In true “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” fashion, that thought never entered my mind. However, I did contemplate the real possibility that I might not have sufficiently recovered in time? But I knew something nobody else knew? I had an Ace of Hearts up my sleeve in the personage of Kathryn Britnell who is also an Explorers Club Fellow. There is no one else who I would have asked to speak and present on my behalf. Fortunately, I did not have to play my Ace of Hearts card.

Thanks for the reminder George. It was a great event supported by several others who also brought their A Game. And, Oh my, every presentation left me wanting more.

Life As It Happens

Explorers Talk at Fjällräven Vancouver

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Despite a key Vancouver intersection being blocked by Indigenous rights protesters just ahead of yesterday’s evening commute, and just blocks away from where Kathryn and I were presenting, our “Explorers Talk” last night at Fjällräven was a Full House!

Fjällräven Vancouver Rocks!

Many thanks to Fjällräven Vancouver’s store manager, Matt Armstrong, and his team for providing such a superb venue along with hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Also a huge shout out for our friend and Social Media Content Curator at The Explorers Club, Coleen Clancy, who always brings a bright smile and her camera to our Explorers Talk presentations.

Life As It Happens

Explorers Talk at Fjällräven Vancouver

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“Overture, curtain, lights. This is it, the night of nights.”

We are giving a free “Explorers Talk” evening presentation at Fjällräven Vancouver on Tuesday, February 11th! Our presentation will touch upon the three explorer societies we are involved with, shipwrecks, sharks, salmon, First Nation burial sites, and a remote Norwegian archipelago called Svalbard which lies in the Arctic Ocean between the North Pole and Norway’s mainland.

Here is a link for tickets: Here

Map

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