Travelling and writing have always been Dennison Berwick's passions. "There's too much of the world to see, and too many fascinating people to meet, to stay in one place for too long," says the sailor, storyteller and nomad. Born in Yorkshire, England, he emigrated to Canada in 1980, settling first in Alberta and later in Ontario.
He has walked the length of India's Ganges river, travelled extensively in his own canoe in the Amazon and sailed in South-East Asia. These adventures are recounted in A Walk Along the Ganges, Amazon and Savages, The Life and Killing of the Yanomami.
Taking a break from travelling in 1995, he established Still Life Retreat, a 90-acre non-denominational retreat north-west of Toronto and published two editions of the Canadian Retreat Guide.
A chance outing on a sailboat in Toronto Harbour in 2020 led to new skills, passions and adventures. He sailed solo down north along the coast of sub-Arctic Labrador attempting to retrace a voyage made in 1811 by Inuit sailors and two Moravian missionaries. However, continuing mechanical troubles led to a fateful decision - learn about diesel systems or give up. So he trained as a marine mechanic.
This has led to developing a series of visual guides to marine diesel systems on small boats. Marine Diesel Basics 1 (covering maintenance and lay-up) has 300+ drawings. This is the first in a series of 4 books. He has also published companion Maintenance Logbooks for Single and Twin engine installations. These are available in 5 languages.
In 2021 he made his first ocean crossing and his first solo ocean crossing when he sailed from Thailand to Tanzania across the Indian Ocean in his 36-foot sailboat "Oceans Five". He is intending to return to Labrador to complete the retracing of the voyage of 1811, before passing over the top of Canada through the Northwest Passage.