Dave Cannamore

All it took was four days in the British Columbia wilderness to turn David from a basketball-obsessed 18-year-old into a lifelong kayaker and explorer of wild places. Since that fateful adventure, David has based many of his life choices around getting as close as possible to the big trees, quiet shorelines, and orca whales he loves so much.

This meandering path has allowed him to live in several remote places along the British Columbia and Alaska Coasts. After three winters and two summers caretaking an orca research station off Vancouver Island, David moved back to his home state of Alaska. Instead of returning to Anchorage where he was raised, David found a home in southeast Alaska’s Tongass Rainforest. He earned a B.S. in Marine Biology, studying humpback whales in Glacier Bay and orcas in the Pribilof Islands. Eventually, he discovered that tour vessels would pay him to watch whales every summer without ever needing to go near a desk.

There was no going back after this, and David eventually settled in the small hamlet of Gustavus, a swampy glacial outwash at the mouth of Glacier Bay National Park, where he’s been working as a kayak guide and naturalist since 2014. With no road access and supplies hard to come by, David took a crash course in carpentry and homesteading, building his own cabin while chasing moose and porcupines out of his garden beds.

David has worked for Lindblad since 2022 and continues to lead kayak tours in Glacier Bay. He also works as a carpenter and guide for a local educational non-profit. When he’s not cutting 2x6s, paddling after humpbacks, and repairing kayaks, David is a freelance writer and aspiring novelist.