Up close with naturalist Briony Penn

Briony Penn has a PH.D. in Geography and is an awardwinning naturalist, writer, educator and broadcaster who has been accompanying guests of Maple Leaf Adventures cruises for more than a decade. She is well known for her tireless devotion to protecting endangered species and sensitive ecosystems in her native British Columbia. A fifth-generation Vancouver Islander, she currently lives on Salt Spring Island.

What is it about this stretch of B.C. coastline that makes it so captivating and fascinating from a scientific perspective?

This unique strip of temperate rainforest and island archipelago are the last intact northern temperate rainforests with still functioning preypredator relationships. The European temperate rainforests — like in Scotland — have beenlogged and converted to impoverished places.

What is unique about the Maple Leaf Adventures experience?

Guests come as lifetime learners and we help them form a relationship with the people, plants and wildlife that call this wild place home.

What do guests find most surprising and rewarding during their voyages?

Many people are lured to see the big megafauna of bears and whales, but discover that the highlight of their trip was an intertidal pool or a flowering estuary full of migratory birds.

What is unique about Maple Leaf Adventures’ new vessel, Cascadia?

MV Cascadia is providing access to those who might not have been able to manage the accessibility requirements of the other boats (a sailing ship and a tugboat) in their fleet.