No Oil Rigs in Paradise!

My wife recently commented on how long it has been since my last blog post. Surely too long. But much has happened in the interim including the packing and selling of our home in Cincinnati and the long and arduous journey to our new lives in rural Nova Scotia. Dreams are being fulfilled here and that can take up quite a bit of one's free time, i have found. 

Nova Scotia has been a long time in coming for us so we are doing our best to hit the ground running despite all the small obstacles that have popped up in our way, such as finding and repairing a hidden, buried well before we could get running water along with all the numerous renovations we had hoped to accomplish before the first snow. 

Though i am happy to report that i have already found some work with the South Shore weekly operated by LighthouseNOW. It is encouraging to get any work in my field this soon upon arrival and i hope that over time i can develop a diverse freelance clientele that will actually earn me the meager living i need to survive on the South Shore. I don't really need much to keep me going in paradise. 

Of course, it is never all rainbows and unicorns in paradise and my very first assignment was to cover a political action opposing offshore oil rigs in the Nova Scotian waters. While the fishing industry has sharply declined over the past few decades it nevertheless remains economically important to the area, which is still the world's leading exporter of lobster. Tourism has also become increasingly important to the economy as hundreds of thousands come every year to visit the lush coastal splendours of the province. A major oil spill could therefore be devastating to the economic stability of the entire region. Polls seem to show that, by a small margin (55% opposed/44% for), most Nova Scotians understand these dangers and oppose the drilling while other believe the economic benefits of oil profits makes it worth the risk. 

My first assignment was to cover a local protest against the oil rigs. I am afraid i cannot provide any good online links to the published work. One of these images was used on the cover of the issue the week after this happened and a couple more were published in the next (this week's) issue. I am including others i submitted as well for a more complete telling of the story. 

On Thursday, October 4, 2018 coastal touring companies and other concerned citizens staged a "peaceful paddling" at Mahone Bay to protest offshore drilling with a non-motorized flotilla of kayaks and paddle boards. More than a dozen kayaks took to the water from the Mahone Bay Civic Marina around 10am with touring companies Lunenburg Paddling Adventours, Cape LaHave Adventures, Pleasant Paddling and Candlebox Kayaking on hand to provide kayaks for participants without their own means of water transportation. 

(click on images for an enlarged gallery view)

Anna Mallin of Lunnenburg steadies her boat as she prepares to be the first kayaker in the water. 

Lillian Page of Cape Sable Island arranges signs for the flotilla.

The flotilla heads out into the bay. 

The Raging Grannies sing songs as the flotilla takes to the bay. 

Sarah Hrdlicka of Cape LaHave Adventures looks back at the flotilla from her paddle board. 

Karl Marsters of Pleasant Paddling in Lunenburg takes his kayak out with one of his daugthers, Myra, on board. 

Mike Taylor of Lunenburg Paddling Adventours finds himself at the center of the flotilla. 

Callum Muise has the front paddle position in a tandem kayak with his mother, Colleen O’Neill.

Paul Pilon paddles in the flotilla. 

 Matt DeLong of Candlebox Kayaking in Shelburne take the lead position as the flotilla paddles back towards the marina. 

Myra Marsters holds her sign up as her father paddles with the flotilla on Mahone Bay.

Paddlers make their way back towards the marina. 

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2018