#3 “You’re part of the food chain out there and I love it.”

In this episode I’m joined by J.F. Marleau, co-owner of SKILS https://skils.ca/ on Vancouver Island, now semi-retired after more than two decades of teaching and leading paddlers on big, advanced expeditions.J.F. has spent over 20 years teaching coursed and taking paddlers into remote, powerful environments, pushing limits and embracing the realities of true wilderness travel. In this conversation he shares stories from some of his most extreme expeditions like Haida Gwaii and Antarctica where you’re no longer at the top of the food chain—and why that challenge keeps calling him back. *This is the first of a 3 part conversation I recorded with J.F. who, at the time (December 2025), was on lighthouse relief duty at Nootka Island adding an extra layer of perspective from one of the most remote stretches of the BC coast.