We acknowledge that we live and work on unceded Indigenous territories and we thank the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations for their hospitality.

Review

Cover: Escape to Clayoquot Sound: Finding Home in a Wild Place

Escape to Clayoquot Sound: Finding Home in a Wild Place

By John Dowd and Bea Dowd

Review By Nancy Janovicek

February 4, 2025

In their retirement, John and Bea Dowd moved from Vancouver to an abandoned beach house on Vargas Island. Escape to Clayoquot Sound is a memoir about the decade they spent living off-grid. The book is their account of learning to live in harmony with nature and creating a home and community in solitude. The book is written in John’s voice with short recollections written by Bea integrated into the text. It will find an audience with outdoor enthusiasts who wonder what it would be like to leave it all behind.

            The Dowds published Sea Kayaker magazine and owned a kayak store on Granville Island and John is the author of books on sea kayak touring. John found the house by accident when he was working on a video project. Bea moved there with him without seeing the place. Like many memoirs written by people who move back to the land, it begins with an account of transforming a decrepit building into a cozy home in nature. Gardening, fishing, and cooking and sharing food with friends occupy much of their time and many pages of the book. They recount visits with family, friends, and strangers who camped on the beach. Most charming is the friendships they develop with two ravens who live near the home, whom they name Ibrahim and Fatima. Engagement with wildlife is not romantic, though. They are cautious of the sea wolves in the area and learn to respect that they are in the animals’ territory.

            Environmental stewardship is a quiet theme of the memoir. Their decision to live off-grid is as much for the adventure as is about anti-consumption. John became an avid fisher and recollections of his catches are juxtaposed with concerns about the impact of farm fishing and clearcut logging on the salmon stock. Their livelihood as guides preserving pristine spaces for kayak groups to “discover” also motivates their interest in the conservation of wild spaces. At the end of the book, they recall meetings with the Ahousaht nation but admit that they had very little engagement with them. They established home in a remote place, but did not live in isolation. John recounts international travels to guide groups. During a trip to Japan to guide a large group, they invited him to give an unexpected keynote to government officials on what would be necessary to make Shiretoka a World Heritage Site, which included banning commercial fishing within three kilometers of the shore. He presents his conversations with group leaders as a conversation; I wish the editor had intervened so that the Japanese voices were not in broken English.

Both John and Bea are professional photographers so the images in the book are spectacular (my favourite are the portraits of Ibrahim!) and beautifully curated. The photos reflect their deep love of the place as well as glimpses into their day-to-day life. Poring over these images is an escape from the difficult times we live in and reminder of why we need find a way to protect these beautiful places.

Publication Information

Dowd, John, and Bea Dowd, Escape to Clayoquot Sound: Finding Home in a Wild Place. Toronto: Heritage House Publishing Company, 2024.