Boldly Go Solo

When I think about seaweed…and no, I don’t think about it all that often…I think about that gross green stuff that wraps around your legs in the ocean. When "The Seaweed Lady" thinks about seaweed, she thinks about an ocean garden full of 700 species of a beautiful plant in varying colors.

I traveled solo to visit Diane Bernard in Whiffen Spit, near the town of Sooke, British Columbia. She took me wading out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the West coast of Vancouver Island. In gum boots. What Americans call rubber boots. What the British call Wellington boots, or wellies.

About 12 herons live in the ‘hood. And at least one aggressive eagle who dives down, zeroing in on the otters and yanking the fish right out of their mouths. When we waded in, she kept her voice down. She didn’t want to bother the heron on a nearby rock. It was nesting time for the grand birds.

The Seaweed Lady knows tons, not only about seaweed but about the wildlife and the mountains around her ocean. And she’s good at dispelling myths about the often-maligned plant.

Continue reading after video…

That smelly, slimy stuff washed up on the beach. The
stuff that you wrinkle your nose at? That’s dead. Judging seaweed by
the rotting remains is like judging the gardens at Versailles by walking
around the compost pile.

A morning with Diane can convince almost anyone to
love seaweed. Or at least give it some respect. Some facts: Most
seaweeds are loaded with vitamins, anti-oxidants and trace minerals.
The mysterious plants are the some of the oldest on earth,
precursors to land plants. Whales stash their young among the giant
kelps in the Canadian Pacific. Awwww…right?

Bull kelp, my favorite, is the fastest-growing
plant on the planet. It starts growing microscopically on December
21st, the shortest day of the year. By August, this deep-water seaweed,
if laid out vertically, is the length of a two- to three- story
building. Holy amazing growth, Batman.

I could go on and on but if you’re really interested,
you should visit Whiffen Spit and the seaweed lady for yourself.  She gives tours throughout the summer. You may arrive solo but you’ll be with a
group for the morning. Out behind the Sooke Harbour House, a restaurant serving beautiful courses made of locally grown food.

A longer version of the video posted here explains more about some of the seaweed plants she hand harvested the day of our
visit.

Photos and video: Ellen Perlman, traveling solo.

1. Diane Bernard, the seaweed lady, holding bull kelp, also known as nerocystis.
2. The seaweed lady holding "see-through" seaweed, called porphyra. Also known as nori, a single cell seaweed so thin you can read a newspaper through it. It’s  eaten by more people around the world than any other seaweed.
3. Smoked tuna ravioli, an appetizer at the Sooke Harbour House.

Terms in the video: First Nations – a term of ethnicity. Holdfast – the part of the seaweed that grips a rock, or some other hard surface, to anchor the plant. Not the same as a root.