Once Upon a Time...

Sometimes we all need a little help.

Once upon a time there was a seaside village living in harmony with nature...

When I started out to create a business I could be proud of while remaining true to my values I felt Fluid was a great opportunity to "make a living", have a great quality of life and share magical areas to people that don't get to spend a lot of time in nature. It's been a great pleasure sharing, educating, guiding, instructing and enjoying the warm Pacific waters around Santa Catalina and Coiba while exposing people to an environment teeming with wildlife and connecting to nature's healing ways.

The longer I spend in this capacity the more I realize this opportunity is so much more. Being on the front line of nature and observing the changes happening on our planet and in our oceans I see I have a greater responsibility than first realized. I've always known as human beings we have the opportunity to accomplish incredible things, experience love, compassion, reason and ration. I also see our actions are having a very negative affect on our planet at the expense of Earth's health and all creatures therein. I now see that I need to voice my observations and teach about the brutal realities of our chosen cultures and the destructive nature of our activities.

For over 20 years I've had the pleasure (and challenges) of witnessing the natural world from a front seat perspective..whether by hiking, by sea kayak, by canoe, by dog sled, in rivers, lakes, on oceans, mountains and over land. What a beautiful and incredible planet we have!

But all this granduer is in trouble. Simply, our greater societies have chosen a non sustainable path hurling us in a direction of wastefulness, pain and destruction. Fish farms, Fukishima and radio acive waste, an unnecessary dependence on fossil fuels, GMO's and altering our natural genetic make up, long-line fishing, shark finning, hydrolic fracturing (fracking), over production of plastic and ruining our fresh water sources. All of this is moving us in a direction that needs to be changed in a hurry if we want to continue experiencing the joys of our planet and minimize the suffering to all creatures.

Coiba Agouti

I remember a significant time I found conflict in our relationship with nature and the changes we were having. Guiding in Belize in the Barrier Reef we enjoyed watching hermit crabs comb the beach in search of food, to socialize and compete for homes. One client brought a crab over that was using a bottle cap as a home instead of a shell. The clients laughed and carried on with enjoying nature. I had a sinking feeling but couldn't quite put a finger on it. Now I know the plastic problem, all the waste, whales dying as a result of consuming plastic bags and areas of our oceans void of life due to our waste!!

As caretakers we need to make responsible decisions to ensure a healthy world for all to thrive and survive. In our little choices we make huge differences such as refusing bags, seeking alternative energy sources, investing in efficiency, buying wisely and locally, using our bikes and leaving the car parked when we can and using the 4 R's etc.

 On a greater level we need to start holding our governments and policy makers more accountable. We need to stand, listen, debate and voice that which is not acceptable. We need to get involved and be aware of the consequences of bills being lobbied and passed in favour of big business and money. We need to embrace the realities and make the adjustments to our systems and whole-heartedly strive for renewable energy. We need to ask difficult questions before we are given very difficult answers that we don't want to live with. The answers are already known. It's time we to listen to our scientists, engineers, indigenous people, environmentalists and visionaries.

We've heard theories that humans are an eliminator species and this is our natural order, like a plague or a virus. I don't accept this. I just don't. I see and believe in more. I believe in harmonious living, caretaking, gratitude and hope. And I want to believe in us as a species.

Just imagine how this story could end..."Once upon a time there was a seaside village living in harmony with nature"...