Windsor Plywood French Creek: Brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products including flooring, doors, and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Visit them online or call 752-3122.

Eddie Van Haddock & The Rockfish: In a little town by the sea where the stories never end, lived Captain Dave and his crew, every child's favourite friend. With a smile as wide as the ocean and a heart that's full of dreams, he sails a mellow submarine where magic gleams and beams. Every morning at sunrise, when the world awakes anew, Captain Dave and his crew set sail in waters deep and blue. Through the ticking clock of time, where adventures come alive, they laugh and learn and play each day in their underwater dive.

Dave Graham: Captain Dave was leaning over a map, charting the course for that day's voyage aboard the Mellow Submarine, when he called out, "Larry, we're heading out soon. We're going to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Today I want to show you something special near Long Beach."

Larry was Larry the Lobster, Captain Dave's friend and first mate onboard the Mellow Submarine. "Long Beach! I love it there, Captain. The waves are so big and powerful. What are we looking for?"

"We are going to search for treasure, my friend. Not gold or jewels, but something just as special—glass fishing floats from Japan."

Larry's eyes widened with curiosity. "Glass balls from Japan? But Captain, Japan is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. How would glass balls get all the way here?"

Captain Dave turned away from the chart table and looked at Larry with a smile spreading across his face. "That's the mystery we are going to solve today, Larry. It's a story about ocean currents, the journey of objects across the sea, and what we can learn from things that wash up on our beaches."

As the Mellow Submarine rounded the rocky headlands near Tofino, Larry pressed his face against the porthole. The water was a deep blue-green, and powerful swells rolled towards the shore. "The ocean looks different here," Larry observed. "The waves are much bigger than in the Salish Sea."

"That's because we're on the outer coast now," Captain Dave explained. "There are no islands to protect us from the open Pacific Ocean. These waves have travelled thousands of kilometres across the sea."

Captain Dave carefully navigated the Mellow Submarine into a sheltered cove just north of Long Beach. As they surfaced, they could see a wild, beautiful coastline. Massive rocks jutted from the water, twisted driftwood logs lay scattered on the sand, and dense rainforest came right down to the beach.

"It's magnificent," Larry whispered.

"And it's one of the best places on Vancouver Island to find treasures from across the Pacific," Captain Dave said. "Let's go ashore and search."

Captain Dave and Larry carefully made their way onto the beach. The sand was coarse and dotted with shells, seaweed, and pieces of driftwood. Larry scuttled along, examining everything with his keen eyes. "What exactly are we looking for, Captain?"

"Glass fishing floats," Captain Dave explained. "For many years, Japanese fishermen used hollow glass balls to keep their fishing nets afloat. The balls were made of thick glass in beautiful shades of green and blue, and some were clear. They ranged in size from as small as your claw to as large as a beach ball."

Larry clicked his claws together. "That sounds beautiful, but why would they wash up here?"

"Sometimes the floats would break free from the nets during storms," Captain Dave said. "Once they were loose, they'd drift with the ocean currents. Some of them would travel across the entire Pacific Ocean and wash up on beaches in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California."

"The entire Pacific Ocean?" Larry asked in amazement. "How long would that take?"

"It depends on the currents, but often two to three years, sometimes longer."

Larry stopped walking and looked at the vast ocean before them. "Two to three years floating across the sea. That's an incredible journey."

As they walked along the beach, Captain Dave explained more. "These days, fishermen use plastic and foam floats instead of glass. So finding an old glass float is quite rare. They're treasures from a different time."

They searched carefully, examining tide pools and looking under piles of driftwood. Larry investigated every round object he could find. "Is this one?" Larry called out, pointing to a round green object tangled in seaweed.

Captain Dave came over to look. "That's a great find, Larry, but it's actually a modern plastic float. See how it has this textured surface? The old Japanese glass floats were smooth and clear enough to see through."

Larry nodded and continued his search. They walked for nearly half an hour, finding many interesting things—sand dollars, unusual shells, a glass bottle with barnacles growing on it—but no glass floats.

"Maybe there aren't any here today," Larry said, a bit discouraged.

"Finding beach treasures takes patience," Captain Dave encouraged. "Let's check near those big logs over there. Sometimes objects get caught in the driftwood piles."

They approached a massive tangle of logs that had washed up during winter storms. Larry scuttled carefully over the weathered wood, peering into every crevice. "Captain Dave!" Larry suddenly shouted. "Captain Dave, I see something. It's round, and it's glass, and it's glowing in the sunlight."

Captain Dave hurried over. There, wedged between two logs and wrapped in a fishing net, was a beautiful green glass ball about the size of a grapefruit. It was slightly covered in sand and algae, but the glass was intact and gleamed in the sunlight.

"Larry, you found one! An authentic Japanese glass fishing float."

Larry was practically dancing with excitement, his claws clicking rapidly. "It's so beautiful. Can we take it out?"

"Very carefully," Captain Dave said. He gently worked the ball free from the netting and logs. As he lifted it, they could see it more clearly. The glass was a lovely sea-green colour, slightly cloudy from years in the ocean, with tiny bubbles trapped inside the glass.

"Look at those bubbles, Larry. Those were made when the glass was blown, probably 50 or 60 years ago in a workshop in Japan."

Larry peered closely at the float. "Is there something inside it? I can't tell. Is that water? No. Is it full of air? How does it float?"

"Excellent observation. The ball is sealed with air inside. The air makes it buoyant so it could keep fishing nets from sinking. The glass is thick enough to withstand the pressures of the ocean."

As they examined the float, they heard a voice calling from down the beach. "Hello there! Did you find a glass ball?"

A woman was walking towards them, carrying a mesh bag and wearing a bright rain jacket. She had a kind face and wore glasses that reflected the sunlight.

"We did," Larry called back proudly. "I found it."

The woman smiled as she approached. "Congratulations. I'm Dr. Chen. I'm an oceanographer studying marine debris patterns along the BC coast. That's a beautiful find."

Captain Dave introduced himself and Larry. "We were just teaching ourselves about ocean currents and how these floats travel across the Pacific."

Dr. Chen's eyes lit up. "Oh, I love talking about this. Do you have a few minutes? I could tell you the amazing journey that float probably took to get here."

"Yes, please," Larry said eagerly, cradling the glass ball carefully in his claws.

Dr. Chen pulled out a tablet from her waterproof bag and showed them a map of the Pacific Ocean. "Okay, so this float probably started somewhere along the coast of Japan, right here. Let's say it broke free from a fishing net during a storm." She traced her finger across the map. "Once it's floating in the ocean, it gets caught in what we call the North Pacific Current. This is a huge system of ocean currents that moves in a giant circle around the Pacific."

Larry leaned in to see the map better. "A giant circle? How big?"

"Enormous," Dr. Chen said. "Your little glass ball would've drifted east from Japan, riding the current, which is like a river of warm water in the ocean."

Captain Dave nodded. "Like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean."

"Exactly. The current would carry it northeast towards Alaska, then it would catch the Alaska Current, which flows south along the coast. Eventually it would reach the California Current, which flows south down the west coast of North America."

Larry was fascinated. "So it travels in a big loop?"

"A very big loop," Dr. Chen confirmed. "But here's the interesting part. Some objects get caught in eddies or local currents that push them towards shore. Your float probably got nudged out of the main current system during a storm and was pushed towards Vancouver Island's west coast."

She showed them another part of the map. "The west coast of Vancouver Island juts out into the Pacific, so it catches a lot of debris that's floating in the ocean. That's why Long Beach, Tofino, and Ucluelet are such good places to find glass floats, driftwood from other continents, and unfortunately, other kinds of marine debris."

"What other kinds of debris?" Larry asked.

Dr. Chen's expression became more serious. "Plastic bottles, fishing nets, foam pieces, tiny bits of broken plastic called microplastics. The same currents that brought your beautiful glass float also bring pollution from all around the Pacific Ocean."

Larry looked down at the glass float in his claws, then back at the beach around them. Now that Dr. Chen had mentioned it, he could see glass bottles half buried in the sand, tangles of rope, and colourful bits of plastic scattered amongst the natural debris.

"That's terrible," Larry said quietly. "The ocean is carrying pollution around the whole Pacific."

Captain Dave knelt down beside Larry. "This is an important lesson, my friend. The ocean connects us all. The currents that brought this glass float from Japan also carry other things, both beautiful and harmful. What we put in the ocean in one place can end up somewhere completely different."

Dr. Chen nodded. "That's exactly right. I study these patterns to help people understand how pollution travels through the ocean. If we want to protect our beaches and marine life, we need to think about the whole ocean system, not just our local area."

Larry looked thoughtful. "So if someone throws plastic in the ocean in Japan, it might end up here on Long Beach?"

"It could," Dr. Chen confirmed. "And if someone throws plastic in the ocean here, it might end up on a beach in Japan or Hawaii. We're all connected by these currents."

"What can we do about it?" Larry asked.

Dr. Chen smiled. "That's the right question to ask. First, we can reduce our use of single-use plastics—bottles, bags, straws, packaging. Second, we can participate in beach cleanups to remove debris before it washes back out to sea. Third, we can support policies that reduce ocean pollution. And fourth, we can educate others about how the ocean system works."

Captain Dave held up the glass float. "And these old floats teach us something important too. Japanese fishermen stopped using glass floats in the 1970s when plastic became cheaper and easier to use. Glass floats are now rare treasures, but plastic floats? Well, they last forever in the ocean and then break into harmful pieces."

"Exactly," Dr. Chen said. "Glass is made from sand, so if it breaks, it eventually returns to sand. But plastic doesn't break down. It just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces that harm marine life."

Larry looked at a plastic bottle lying near his feet. "This bottle doesn't belong on the beach. Can we clean it up?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Chen said, pulling out her mesh bag. "I always collect debris when I'm doing beach surveys. Want to help?"

For the next 20 minutes, Captain Dave, Larry, and Dr. Chen walked the beach together, picking up plastic bottles, pieces of foam, tangled fishing line, and other debris. Larry was amazed at how much they found.

"This is just one small beach," Larry said, looking at their collection. "Imagine how much debris is on all the beaches around the Pacific Ocean."

"It's overwhelming when you think about it that way," Dr. Chen agreed. "But remember, every piece we pick up is one less piece that can harm a sea turtle, tangle a seal, or break into microplastics. Small actions by many people add up to big changes."

They carried their collection to a proper rubbish bin at the beach access point. Dr. Chen carefully separated out the items that could be recycled.

Back aboard the Mellow Submarine, Larry carefully placed the glass float in a special display case. The green glass gleamed in the cabin light, its tiny bubbles catching and reflecting the colours of the sea.

Larry pressed his face against the porthole, watching the wild coast of the Pacific slip past. "Next time we meet young explorers, I'm going to tell them about the glass ball and the currents and how we're all connected. And I'm going to tell them that small actions matter."

"That's exactly right, Larry. Every plastic bottle we don't use, every piece of debris we pick up, every person we educate—it all matters."

As the Mellow Submarine headed back towards the sheltered waters of the Salish Sea, Larry couldn't stop thinking about the glass float's incredible journey: thousands of kilometres across the open ocean, riding invisible rivers of water, surviving storms and calm seas alike, carried by forces much larger than itself.

"Captain Dave?"

"Yes, Larry?"

"I'm glad that float made it here. It taught us something important today."

"What did it teach you?"

Larry thought for a moment, his claws resting gently on the display case. "It taught me that the ocean is always moving, always connecting, always carrying stories from far away. And it taught me that we need to be very careful about what stories we send out into those currents."

Captain Dave smiled warmly. "Larry, I think you've learned the most important lesson of all."

Eddie Van Haddock & The Rockfish: When the night falls softly, and stars light up the sky, Captain Dave tucks his crew in with a gentle lullaby. Dreams of whales and mermaids, of treasures lush and green, await each little sailor aboard the Mellow Submarine.

Windsor Plywood French Creek: Brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products including flooring, doors, and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood in French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.