Just got back from a fantastic five days in Tofino and Hotsprings Cove. We’ve been surfing around Tofino and Ucluelet pretty religiously for the past ten years, but had never made the trip up the coast to Hotsprings Cove, until now! It was fantastic, to say the least. Saw five grey whales and a sea otter on the boat ride up with Ocean Outfitters.
a sea otter having a snack in the Sound
The whales were awesome but spotting an otter was a real treat as it shows the little guys are on the rebound after a century of heavy hunting. A keystone species, it was explained to us by our boat captain, the otters are the lynch pin to the coast ecosystem of Clayoquot Sound. Without them, the urchin population goes unchecked, devastating the kelp forests from which pretty well all other species in the Sound depend, from the starfish right up to the whales, salmon and us!
Hotsprings Cove is a really magical, sacred place. We got a rare private session in after the last of the tour boats departed, leaving Robyn and I, along with two other couples staying with us on The InnChanter alone in the springs. Orange sun fading over the horizon, stars high in the sky and a sliver of a moon skirting low along the treeline, combined with 102 degree water = mucho relaxation!
Backup just a sec. The boat we stayed on, the Inn Chanter is run by two awesome dudes, Shaun and Cam. With nearly 20 years of experience living and operating their B+B from the cove, the newly-wed pair (congrats boys!) made for the best guides… and the food was pretty rad too! Fresh lingcod day one, halibut day two… crabs in the trap… can’t wait to go back!
This trip was a bit of a departure from the usual hectic-by-comparision quest for surf that normally charcterizes our Tofino missions. While the first two nights were spent in a house on Chesterman Beach, which was awesome in its own right, the days up at Hotspring, kayaking, lounging around, eating and soaking it up in the springs was a real treat. Who knew vacations could be relaxing!
more tk. Photos after the jump.
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