Raised by her mother, Ivy Cargill-Martin, 22, grew up in a tiny float home in the Clayoquot Sound. Tucked in a cove behind the First Nations village of Opitsaht, where her father is from, she has fond childhood memories of running around the shorelines of Meares Island in a wetsuit.
After spending a stint in Port Alberni where she met her boyfriend, Matt Leonew, 22, she felt compelled to return home.
“It is really nice to know that it is your own little world,” she said.
Ivy Cargill-Martin's float home sits nestled in a quiet cove in the Pacific Ocean, hooked up to Meares Island. "I don’t want to live anywhere else," she said.
Jane Hunt moved to the west coast with her family from Vennachar, Ontario in 1964. For the past 30 years, she has lived on her farm that is nestled down a system of old logging roads. The property sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and looks towards Barkley Sound. “It’s quiet,” she said. “There are no streets or close, noisy neighbours. It’s a lot like Vennachar, only it’s warmer and wetter.”
At the age of 19, Robinson Cook left his home in Peterborough, Ontario to go hitchhiking on sailboats. With just $500 in his pocket, he was able to travel the world. “That really helped change my worldview,” he said. “There was a different way to live.” He eventually landed in Tofino, where he lived in a bus, before transitioning to living on various islands within the Clayoquot Sound. He met his partner, Mary Forest, in Tofino while taking a chakra class. One year later, she had moved onto the island where they have lived for nearly 20 years with their now 15-year-old daughter, Cedar Forest. “I love that we’re separated by the water,” Cook said. “It’s a dimensional shift and very few pass over that threshold to come here. If they do, well, I probably want to meet them."
Cedar Forest, 15, has spent her whole life growing up on a tiny island near Tofino. After finishing high school, this tenth grader dreams of moving to Victoria. While island life can feel isolating, she attributes that feeling to the reason why she want to be an artist. “If I could just leave, I would have done something else with my free time growing up,” she said. Her art style is influenced by her natural surroundings and she’s often found drawing sea creatures, flowers and birds.
A buoy floats in the Clayoquot Sound between Tofino and Vargas Island.
Wayne Adams and Catherine King have been staple figures on the west coast of Vancouver Island for over two decades. Drawing international attention for their man-made island, called Freedom Cove, the artists started building their paradise in 1991 after a storm blew a pile of lumbered wood to shore. Now occupying half an acre on the ocean’s surface and weighing around 2 million pounds, it floats “like a leaf on a pond,” said Adams. Using the ocean as their highway, they travel to Tofino around every two weeks to stock up on groceries and collect their mail. “I have found where I’m supposed to be,” she said.
Freedom Cove is a man-made island built by artists, Catherine King and Wayne Adams. The structure rests on the Pacific Ocean’s surface using armoured Styrofoam blocks. Tied to shore by ropes, they gather their water from a stream that falls from a mountainside behind their home, and most of the fruits and vegetables they eat are grown aboard.
Shane Adams moved out to Freedom Cove 13 years ago after spending a summer helping his father renovate the walkways on their float home. Falling in love with the lifestyle, he built his own house around the corner from his parents. “That’s how I wound up working on the fish farms,” he said. “I wasn’t an artist, I still needed to make a pay check and the fish farms were right there.” But around one year ago, he traded fish for vegetables. Learning from his mother, Adams has begun to expand his “yard,” after acquiring some old walkways from a fish farm. He dreams of being able to stay at home and grow fresh produce that he can sell to local resorts and markets. “We’re here because we want to be,” he said. “I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
The view up Lemmens Inlet, which is just around the corner from where Ivy Cargill-Martin's float home sits.