Rock pooling at Botanical Beach, Vancouver Island

At the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, sculpted by the ferocity of the Pacific Ocean, resides the anomalous rock formations of Botanical Beach. In the company of several friends and Pogo, an equable dog with a sizable mustache, we ambled slowly across a vast rock shelf, rife with deep, organism-filled pools. Like the contours of a fish bowl, many of the depressions curved under the rock, leaving us to peer beneath our feet at sea stars, urchins, anemones and crabs.

The discoveries made by a rock pooling child will build them into their future self, whilst those made by a rock pooling adult will return them to their childhood.