The Coolest Journey

21/08/2026

CLOSING THIS ACCOUNT - stay with me at Helene Thecoolestjourney :D

17/07/2026

The concept of swim-able cities is a slow adoption process in Canada. This said, more and more river "pools" are popping up.
In Québec, I grew up in Beloeil along the Richelieu River, deemed highly polluted at the time with visible raw sewage (ie p**p). In 2025, they inaugurated a river pool.
In Ottawa, during my last visit in May 2026, I saw 2x River pools, one in the Rideau canal and another one in the Ottawa River. Just amazing.

This said, we can do better.

In Vancouver, sewers overflow when there are heavy rainfalls. That means raw untreated sewage goes to sea. With water users increasing every year, this is unacceptable. Swimmers, kayakers, SUP, Canoers, rowers - the list goes on.

And what about our poor marine animals? They deserve better than us flushing our raw untreated sewage in their homes.

Let's all push for better grey/black water treatment, separated sewer lines from stormwater lines, and adopt some of these brilliant Swiss measures to make our water pristine.

How cities are turning their polluted rivers into swimming havens | National Geographic

Swimmable cities are making a comeback in Europe—just in time for urbanites to escape unprecedented heat waves.

14/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HsB9yw5vm/

11/07/2026

Free ocean outing tomorrow morning!

Free Monthly Ocean Outing at Kitsilano Beach (Rain or Shine, Obviously!)

Date: Jul 11 • 07:30

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-monthly-ocean-outing-at-kitsilano-beach-rain-or-shine-obviously-tickets-1990590955132?aff=ebdsshother&utm_share_source=listing_android&sg=04e1100ef29aa5cfdc3c6c867228dbc267876a58cf400d37047534c55b4899944b861d38e58934eb700ca22fec41cef6f03aa4315fa79783c3aea90f1c5fce76c64117d237d976f39bdc651bd651

28/06/2026

Sunny Sechelt on the BC sunshine coast. Awesome place for an adventure swim.

Next monthly free ocean outing in two weeks at Kitsilano!

08/06/2026

Coming up this Saturday June 13th at 7:30am - monthly ocean outing
It's free, sign up on EventBrite and bring family & friends!

Join Coach Hélène and the COOLEST pod! ❄️

11/05/2026

3km Sasamat Lake ice cracker - no ice there today

19C air
18C water

Strong swim with great people, although I ended up doing the last 2km pretty much alone. At one point, 2x super fast swimmers passed me and it almost felt like I was swimming on a spot 🤣🤣🤣

This is a pretty good event to assess swimming ability for longer upcoming challenges in the summer, with a touch of motivation for future training 💪

Thanks Chris Østenstad and team for organizing this!

28/04/2026

Free Ocean Outing at Kits beach in Vancouver this Saturday May 2, 8am!

This is for all levels - if this is your first time, please know that you'll be asked to keep it at 2min in the water. There's a LOT to process on a first ocean outing...

Also, do register so that if the outing is canceled due to sewer overflow, you'll get an e-mail notice late Friday evening or early Saturday morning. Otherwise, see you there.

And just so you know - a grey whale and 3x harbour seals have been hanging out at Kits for the past 4-5 days. With some luck, they'll be around on Saturday :D

Join Coach Hélène and the COOLEST pod! ❄️

21/04/2026

How do you stay motivated to swim daily, you ask?
This sunrise sky is why.
Every day is a different show.

17/04/2026

See how enticing and energizing an ice bath can be? 🥶🤣🥶