Summer is nearly upon us, and it’s time to dust off the ol’ bathing suit!
Authors Alex McKeen and George Harwood Smith have announced the upcoming release of their book, Swimming Holes and Beaches of Southwestern British Columbia, which will come out on May 20th.
This new guidebook has been in the works since 2018, and contains thorough details regarding must-visit places to swim across Southwestern BC—whether it’s a lake, river, creek, pond or ocean, they’re calling on everyone to dive in!
In an interview with Victoria Buzz, the authors said that it all began as soon as they became roommates in North Vancouver, having been brought together by an ad on Craigslist.
“We discovered that we both loved swimming, and so we went to lakes and beaches every weekend when the weather was good,” said Harwood Smith.
Harwood Smith added that McKeen had spent a lot of time lifeguarding as well as leisurely swimming, and Harwood Smith swam a lot while back home in the UK, partaking in ‘wild swimming,’ which is essentially a way of discovering new places via popular or hidden swimming spots.
While on the west coast, they started cataloguing all the places they swam in, not necessarily expecting it to go any further than the list they had started.
“It was never really a ‘joke,’ but it started off less seriously,” McKeen added.
“In 2018 George told me about the [swimming] guidebooks that you would follow when you were traveling around Europe…and so when we initially couldn’t find a BC guidebook, we joked that we should just write it ourselves.”
While neither of them are competitive swimmers, and refer to themselves as ‘outdoor and water enthusiasts,’ they knew this would be a fun and fulfilling project—especially as the pandemic progressed.
As they continued to add to the list, they noticed it had gotten quite long. Both of them collectively realized that there could be something here if they continued to develop it, which meant including notes, descriptions and photos for each place too.
This also meant recording tidbits of history from each location, whether it was added before they visited or after, they knew it would be an important component to the book.
“When you go and visit somewhere, it’s nice to know a little bit about where you are and the history behind that…It’s interesting for me being from Europe visiting Canada…to learn more about it as well,” said Harwood Smith.
“I loved that part of the process…and there were some really lovely stories associated with some of the locations we found,” added McKeen.
Harwood Smith also mentioned that even if people read the guidebook and don’t want to go swimming, they can still learn something about the locations they’ve featured, which is a way to grow closer to a space in and of itself.
Both McKeen and Harwood Smith were excited to share their favourite swimming spots.
McKeen came up with one ocean, one lake, and one river spot for Vancouver Island/Gulf Islands: McKenzie Bight, Killarney Lake (Bowen Island), and Koksilah River Holes near Shawnigan.
Harwood Smith’s are the Lynn Creek in Vancouver, Cassidy Bridge near Nanaimo, Cabin Lake on Cyprus Mountain and the Sunshine Coast—he laughed and said it’s hard to pick just one of the spots along this coast.
“A place is not fully explored until you have plunged yourself into whatever body of water is there,” concluded McKeen.
This book is for all swim levels and accessibility needs, however, they have also included a general advisory that swimming does come with risks, and it’s up to each person to determine their comfort levels.
While they haven’t planned any book tours yet, they may try and set something up when Harwood Smith comes back to the island to visit McKeen this July.
“I’m really excited to promote this book, and I hope people get something out of it,” said McKeen.
While the anticipation for the release steadily builds, it’s available for pre-order here, with their publisher Greystone Books.
Greystone Books is a well-acclaimed, leading independent Canadian publisher of books about nature, science, health, and social issues, with a commitment to environmental stewardship.
The publisher has committed to providing insight into living with a deep connection to nature, and has been referred to as “a gem to work with.”
Outside of newly found authorhood, McKeen is an an award-winning journalist whose work for Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, the Toronto Star, has taken her across North America; and Harwood Smith is a keen photographer and the curator at East Quay, an award-winning arts center in Somerset, UK.
Grab yourself a copy, and let’s get swimming!
