Marla Barker

Marla is a professional guide & marine naturalist with infectious passion for coastal ecology and life afloat. With the better part of twenty years’ experience as a boat pilot and adventure tour operator, her grin is the widest when she’s facilitating experiences in the great outdoors, fulfilling her appetite for small boats and large marine mammals.

When she’s not spotting spouts, or pursuing peaks with a sunset view, she might be found volunteering with search & rescue, tracking singing humpback whales off the Hawaiian Islands, exploring on her SUP, or in the field as a water quality technician for shellfish growing areas of the British Columbia coast. Years as an outdoor educator and leadership training facilitator have nurtured her love for working with people - young and young at heart - from all around the world. Home is Ucluelet, British Columbia, nestled in the coastal temperate rainforest off the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.

The elaborated daylight hours of higher-latitude summers, rare authentic wilderness access, and unparalleled wildlife viewing opportunities of the farthest reaches of the North and South keep her coming back to the best team-oriented office on the planet – afloat in the Polar Regions! Marla favors low tide over high, wild foraging over the supermarket, books over e-readers, and loves helping connect people positively with nature in fun and creative ways.