Free sailing trip. We're giving it away. Any takers? Or: sailing trips are like kittens we are giving them away.

Hey you! With the mouth full of pie! Put the fork down and listen up!

Living Oceans Society is partnering with Maple Leaf Adventures to give away a week-long tour of the Great Bear Rainforest aboard the 92-foot schooner Maple Leaf.

This is the real deal, kids - Maple Leaf Adventures is a top-notch adventure travel company and this is simply one of the most amazing places on our planet.


How do you get in on this? It's pretty simple. Just tell us, in 300 words or less, about an experience that inspired you to make a difference. Submit your short story to the site, and then get your friends to vote for you like crazy. A panel of three judges will choose from the top 5 vote-getters.

That's it. That's all. You'll have some very good competition from the stories that are already up on the site, so give it your best effort. And you'd better hustle - the last day of the contest is June 5. This means that you have to get your story up on the site and get all of your friends to vote for you right quick. Even if you don't submit a story, you can still check out the submissions to vote on your favorite.

If you need inspiration, our contest coordinator, Ashley Knapp, shares her first brush with the mighty Pacific, and how it has helped her relate to the great stories that we've been receiving for this contest.

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Hi all, Ashley here – first-time blogger for Water Blogged. I’ve been giving my fingers the workout of a lifetime by planning The Way I Sea It Contest for Living Oceans Society for the past few months.

What’s The Way I Sea It Contest, you ask? Oh, nothing really, just this totally awesome contest where people share stories about experiences that inspired them to make a difference, then promote their story to get votes – all to get a chance to win a sailing adventure of a lifetime.

What’s really struck me about this contest so far are the amazing stories that contestants are sharing. From chasing away turtle poachers, to witnessing mom and baby orcas, to cleaning up the plastic that washes ashore, to scuba diving… these stories about the ocean are so inspiring. Being from Ottawa and having just moved out to the west coast about a year ago, this whole notion of the ocean being a source of inspiration is kinda new for me. After all, I’ve spent pretty much my whole life freezing in Ottawa winters…

See? The Parliament buildings, where the only ocean in sight is a snowy one.

However, I still feel that I can relate to these stories. I saw the ocean for the first time a couple of years ago, in Tofino, while visiting my sister (she’s the smart one – she moved out here first).

See? This is me in Tofino in January – happier by the ocean.

I remember looking out into the endless expanse of water and being blown away by the sheer immensity of the ocean. I admired the beautiful waves washing up on shore, each one unique. Know the feeling?

But enough about me. If you haven’t had the chance yet, submit your 300-word story, check out these awesome stories by contestants, or vote on which one you like the best. There’s only 5 days left, so hurry!

Remember – in addition to winning the sailing adventure of a lifetime, the winner of the contest also gets to share their sailing adventure right here on this blog, so be sure to pick someone you’ll want to hear more from in the future! And don’t worry, I’m pretty sure the winner won’t mention snow or winter.