Preparations have started in earnest for the South African Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon in October, 2007 (http://www.extrememarathons.com/), an uncompleted challenge for me. The diary of events for the next five months does not only include running events but also adventure races to enjoy. Our duo team recently completed a RaidPulse Adventure race at Lac de L'Argil, close to Notre Dame de la Salette in Quebec. Canoeing, Mountain Biking and Bushwacking including some challenging map reading. It was a tough event, and the first adventure race for both of us. With a couple of mishaps including a bike crash and a missed checkpoint, it took us 7h30 to complete. The challenge was good and a thorough learning experience for the next events. The photo is early morning looking out from the start across Lac de L'Argil.

An adventure weekend on the Grand River in southwestern Ontario. A five hour canoe down river followed the next day by an extended cycle ride on the trails close to the river. Although the river is over 300 km long, our first visit was just to the area south of Cambridge to Brantford, camping in the Brant Conservation Area. Some beautiful stretches of the river north of Paris, and remarkable that only an hours drive from Toronto, we can find places like this to wind down from the city and work stresses ! Some hard work has been done on cleaning up the river and building trails, and heard from locals of recent sightings of bald eagles on this stretch of river that had not been seen in many years.

Well, have now completed my four open water dives, completing the last two at Hudson Grotto, north of Tampa Bay, Florida. This opens up vast opportunities to also now experience and learn about the marine and freshwater environments. I was fortunate field guiding in northern Natal, South Africa to experience the bushveld, but hoped that one day I could get into the ocean and see the wonders of that environment. One step closer now with my open water scuba qualification. Hudson Grotto is interesting to say the least and nerve-racking for my second time in the water. Averaging about 110 ft, we only dived to 55 ft at the deepest on our training dives. Visibility was poor and we dived with torches. Constant watching out for my dive buddy Heather, and the instructor ahead, just to make sure I did not lose sight of them ! A distinct thermocline at about 45 ft as well made for some chilly diving down there. Anyway all went well and all skills completed. Eagerly learning more about the marine environment and hopefully have many opportunities to share that passion and pass on the message of conservation and our extraordinary ecosystems and the creatures and plants that inhabit them !