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Entrepreneur creates new adventure opportunities on Bowen Island

Kiley Redhead says that she and her partner, Baz Cardinal, are longtime outdoor enthusiasts, but when she moved to Bowen five years ago it made a major shift to the role of outdoor activities in her life.
slack
Kiley Redhead says her own adventures in slacklining have been inspired by the landscape of Bowen Island.

Kiley Redhead says that she and her partner, Baz Cardinal, are longtime outdoor enthusiasts, but when she moved to Bowen five years ago it made a major shift to the role of outdoor activities in her life.

“Getting outside used to be something I did on weekends,” says Redhead. “Now it’s something I do every single day because there is so much nature right outside our door.”

Their interest in the outdoors, and adventure in particular, led Redhead and Cardinal to launch the Bowen Island Adventure Film Festival in 2016.

“The Festival connected us with nature lovers and sporting devotees and introduced us to various communities such as scuba divers and trail runners, and the different people on Bowen making adventures happen,” says Redhead. “We wanted to see how we could help bring their work forward. So, Bowen Island Adventures is about doing that.”

The company is Redhead’s fourth, and she says they did a “soft-launch” this summer.

“We wanted to get a sense of what we didn’t know,” says Redhead. “What surprised us, were the number of families that showed up from international locations. A lot of people did kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding through Bowen Sea Kayaking. There was a lot of interest in foraging, led by Stephanie Carruthers. Baz and I taught slack-lining, and of course there were people hiking.”

Redhead adds that her intention with this company is not necessarily to attract more visitors to Bowen, but to build infrastructure for those visitors that are already coming.

“We want to make a minimal impact,” says Redhead.

To learn more about Bowen Island Adventures, check out their website at BowenIslandAdventures.com