A boat tour to Hot Springs Cove, Maquinna Marine Provincial Park
Most of Day 16, May 11th, was taken up by a visit to Hot Springs Cove. I’ll start this post by copying the review that I post on TripAdvisor, where I rated it “Average”: “I visited Hot Springs Cove in 1991 and had fond memories of it. Four of us had this spectacular place to ourselves. Last week, our boat with 10 people was the first one there, and that was already far too many people. Four people can soak comfortably at high tide – any more get less and less hot water to sit it. By the time we left there were about 25 people and it was ridiculous – the changing facilities are also inadequate for more than about 15 people. It’s a great boat ride to get there (our captain with Ocean Outfitters, Travis, was extremely good), and the forest boardwalk is spectacular, so I might do it again some day, but I probably won’t bother even bringing a bathing suit. BC has some incredible hot spring experiences where you can have a wonderful soak in amazing scenery – this one doesn’t belong on that list.”
We’ve been getting a lot of rain, but this morning it got heavier and heavier, and by the time we started for Tofino just before 09:30, it was really coming down. Because of the rain, for the first time ever, I took Cathy’s little Nikon, a Coolpix L840, rather than my expensive Canon.
Ocean Outfitters is a very professional operation. They have every aspect of running tours down to a quick and simple process.
Walking down to our boat, the “Miss Chief”, which is the furthest yellow one.
C-GIJN is a 1976 Cessna A185F Skywagon that’s operated by Atleo River Air Service.
A better lA better look at the Canadian Coast Guard ship Bartlett that we’d seen in the harbour the day before.
Another Coast Guard vessel, the Cape Kuper, had arrived while we were walking to our boat. She’s a SAR Lifeboat that was built in Victoria in 2005, and is now based in Victoria.
Our boat is a fine piece of equipment – fairly new, powerful, and comfortable – and Travis really impressed me both as a captain and a tour guide. The seas were reported as 1.7 meter swells, so not bad. Certainly nothing like what we had back in ’91 – I remember that as being a very rough/nauseating ride.
This looked like a good place for sea otters, and Travis told me later that that’s why he pulled in, but we didn’t see any.
I was thrilled by the number of Steller sea lions that were on Cleland Island – hundreds of them.
The rain kept pounding down but the visibility wasn’t bad so it was okay.
This little lighthouse sits on Sharp Point at the end of the Openit Peninsula, close to the hot springs.
This dock is the main access point to Maquinna Marine Provincial Park, the core of which was created on January 7, 1955, to protect the hot springs. On the opposite side of the inlet is the Hesquiaht First Nation village of Hot Springs Cove.
Park information panels at the shore end of the dock.
A boardwalk has been built for the entire 2 km route from the dock to the hot springs. Many of the planks have been replaced with carved ones made by boat owners. It’s a pretty cool form of ship signature.
The old-growth rainforest you walk through to reach the hot springs is extremely impressive.
This is where you first see the hot water of Sharp Point Hot Springs.
This is Hot Springs Cove, once called Refuge Cove and used as a small safe harbour.
This hot waterfall feeds the pools.
Except at very low tide levels, this is the main pool. The further you are from the waterfalls, the less hot the water is. Judging it against my hot tub which I keep at 105&dec;F (40.6°C), this pool is about 102/38.9 degrees.
Four people in the main pool, another couple in the next pool towards the waterfalls.
A look at the entire hot springs from the sea, an hour and 20 minutes before high tide.
As I started to walk back to the dock just before 2:00 pm, the rain had almost quit.
Outhouses are located a few hundred meters/yards from the hot springs.
This large sea cave is on the Openit Peninsula.
Travis took a long wandering route back to Tofino, through an intricate series of channels. It was exceptionally scenic, but I didn’t take any photos because the camera had died as I left the hot springs. Oh well…
About The Author
