Hot Springs Cove

We woke up early the next morning for our hop around Estavan Point. We had a perfect beam reach until we rounded the point and then motored into Hot Springs Cove.

Arriving in Hot Springs Cove, we feel like we have finally re-entered civilization again. Hot Springs is home to a paradisiacal (you might have already guessed this) hot springs that bubbles up from the forest floor, tumbles down a cliff and then cascades through a series of rock pools before meeting the ocean. The low pools are a variety of temperatures depending on the state of the tide so you can choose a pool with a temperature comfortable to you and then dip between hot and cold. For good reason, Hot Springs is a major tourist destination so there are tour boats and sea planes from nearby Tofino coming and going all day long. We like to tie up to the dock so we can watch all of the normal folk arrive to take a break from their normal lives and spend a few hours in wildness. Here, we also re-entered cell service, our first taste of cell in two weeks so we took the opportunity to call our parents to tell them we were still alive and, of course, catch up on some work. Like I said, full-blown civilization.

On our first afternoon there we walked the picturesque boardwalk (we still haven't joined the legions of other boaters and taken the time to carve the name of our boat into a board there) to the famous hot springs and joined the crowds of tourists in the pools. It's always interesting to talk to other people there and hear their stories. We talked with a woman from Ireland and I was lucky enough to have my back turned to a German man who got naked as he changed out of his wet clothes...others in my party were not so lucky. As they looked up to say something to me all they saw was a big, naked, German butt behind me that rendered them speechless. He was kind enough to hold up a towel for his wife so she could do the same.

The following day was super rainy so we spent the day in the boat resting and playing a board game. We noticed a very tiny, very soggy open boat tie up to the other side of the dock. After dinner Jason saw a man sitting next to the boat looking cold and wet. I thought he must be from the tiny boat so I stuck my head and asked if he'd like a cup of tea to warm up. He declined and said he was just waiting for a sea plane. He said the guys from the tiny boat were inside eating dinner. Hearing this conversation, we saw two heads pop out so we stepped out of our boat to say hello and thus began our first meeting of the "Irish Lads" as they came to be known. Originally from Ireland they were now hanging out in Canada and sailing as much as they could before their visas ran out. The Irish Lads had come around Cape Scott in their teeny, tiny boat, and the Dreaded Brooks Peninsula and now Estavan Point. I couldn't believe they were circumnavigating Vancouver Island in that boat. I thought back to all of the times that I had felt terrified and felt like a total wimp as I glanced back at our uber-stout, seaworthy Marinero. They had gotten quite the pummeling going around Estavan that day but now they were warm and dry and happy and didn't need a cup of tea after all.

That evening we walked back to the hot springs for the solo experience. All the tourists filter out of the hot springs by 7:00 so after that you can have the whole place to yourself. We soaked in the lower pools, dipping ourselves between hot and cold as the weather lightly misted us. We watched fog slowly roll in and soon the eerie high-pitched whistle of a foghorn sounded in the distance which totally added to the moody feel of the evening. Happy and relaxed we plodded back along the boardwalk to our boat.

Click here for photos.