The connection between the CORK ("Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit") borehole observatory monitoring Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) borehole 1026B and the NEPTUNE Canada ocean network in September of 2009 marks the beginning of a new era of cabled subseafloor observations. The electrical power and real-time data access provided by cables improve the sampling rate, life time, and timing accuracy of existing borehole instrumentation. Cabled observatories also provide the opportunity to deploy advanced instruments that consume more power and produce more data than ever before. Using data from the 1026B CORK, we demonstrate how the higher sampling rate of cabled CORK observatories enables us to study phenomena like ocean weather and hydrologic responses to seismic waves. In an outlook we show how CORKs and new borehole instruments--planned for future connection to the NEPTUNE Canada ocean network--can help to yield critical information on the accumulation of stress and resulting strain of plate-scale crustal movements. In the future, these CORKs and new geodetic borehole instrumentation will provide a time-series of strain signals associated with the Cascadia subduction zone that would not have been possible with remote sensing or land-based monitoring. These CORKs will not only represent a new approach for earthquake research but the high-frequency, real-time data could also directly contribute to earthquake and tsunami early warning systems.