THE SHIMMERING TIDE
A Salish Sea Secret of Tiny Lights and Big Adventures

Genre: Children’s Adventure Fiction — Salish Sea, Nature & Ocean Discovery

A magical Salish Sea adventure where tiny glowing plankton, curious sea creatures, and brave young explorers reveal the wonders hidden beneath the tide.

When Oscar the Octopus discovers that the water beneath Sidney Pier is glowing, he is certain of one thing: it must be treasure.

Or magic.

Or possibly both.

With eight curious arms, three excited hearts, and one very suspicious spoon, Oscar sets off to solve the mystery of the shimmering tide. But the Salish Sea has more secrets than even an octopus can hold. Soon Oscar and his friends—Pearl the playful harbour seal, Click the nervous crab, Professor Barnaby the know-it-all barnacle, Luna the wise moon snail, and Captain Gulliver the snack-obsessed gull—are swept into an adventure of glowing plankton, tricky tides, kelp forests, eelgrass nurseries, herring schools, salmon journeys, orca songs, and one or two very undignified rescues.

Along the way, Oscar learns that the tiniest creatures can light up the sea, a plastic bag is not a jellyfish, and even a crab who panics professionally can be brave when it matters.

Funny, adventurous, and full of real Salish Sea wonders, THE SHIMMERING TIDE invites young readers to discover how every tide, creature, stream, shoreline, and choice is connected.

Because the first secret of the Salish Sea is this: even the smallest spark can reveal a whole living world.

Why I Wrote This Book

I wrote The Shimmering Tide because the ocean is one of the greatest storybooks on Earth—and the Salish Sea is full of pages that sparkle, wiggle, splash, crawl, hide, and glow.

I wanted young readers to feel the magic of looking closely. A tidepool may seem small at first, but wait a moment, and it becomes a busy little city. Crabs march sideways like serious soldiers. Snails move slowly, as if they have all day—which, of course, they do. Kelp forests sway like underwater castles. Tiny plankton, almost invisible by day, can shimmer at night like stars that fell into the sea.

This book was written to make children curious, not just about adventure, but about real life beneath the waves. The Salish Sea is home to amazing creatures, each with a job, a place, and a secret worth discovering. When children learn to wonder, they also learn to care.

I wrote this story because nature should never feel far away or boring. It should feel close, alive, funny, mysterious, and full of surprises.

The Shimmering Tide invites young readers to step to the shore, listen to the waves, and ask: what is hiding just beneath the next ripple?