Underwater Brenna: Victoria Tale

I spent a few days staying in Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC with former scholar Adam Ravetch, his wife Sarah Robertson, and their children.

I am still nursing a slight sunburn on my face but it is well worth enduring as we spent a few hours out on the water near San Juan Island watching orcas. There were too many orcas to count and we were delighted by orcas breaching, tail slapping, and spy-hopping. Two orcas came particularly close to our zodiac giving me plenty to great action to film.

This was a particularly great time to visit with the Ravetch and Robertson family as Adam and Sarah are the proud directors of their first feature film, Artic Tale (out in theaters!). Adam took me to the local cinema to see the film and I now recommend everyone to go see it! If you liked March of the Penguins you will certainly enjoy this one. Based on the lives of a young polar bear and young walrus, Adam and Sara's beautiful and captivating shots are turned into a terrific story of Arctic biology, ecology, and animal survival in this changing world. Over coffee Adam and I talked about how we can use film to portray stories of animals and pass on conservation messages. I look forward to seeing more of their work in the future.

Adam and I after the film

I also had a great time talking with Adam about his scholarship experience. When he was a scholar (yes, Adam, that was a long time ago) there was only one person chosen (there were associate scholars too) and he spent his year primarily in the states driving around to different experiences. Much has changes as I now have two "classmates" and am encouraged to explore outside this country. Some things haven't changed and we enjoyed sharing stories of the people that make this scholarship so interesting (and bizarre...).