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Published On: Jun 21, 2005 12:05 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 21, 2005 12:05 PM
Zeballos to Hot Springs Cove
We left the quiet little town of Zeballos early
to make Hot Springs Cove by early evening.
We awoke early and got the engine going by 0600.
The plan was to head out Esperanza Inlet and make Hot Springs Cove by early
evening. The trip out the inlet took 2 hours. We were in open ocean by
0815.
The west side of Vancouver Island is completely different from the east side. On the inside passage, if you're 50 feet off a shore, you're in 200 feet of water. On the west side of the island, if you're 2 miles offshore, you're in 150 feet of water. All of the inlets are deep once you get inside them, but their entrances are all hazardous with rocks.
We had heard good things about Hot Springs Cove, and were looking forward to a good soak. The wind started off light (5 knots), but within an hour had built to 32 knots. We reefed down the main and sailed at 6 - 7 knots in 30 knot winds (gusting to 38) for many hours. We had 25 knot winds all the way to the entrance to the Hot Springs (which are hard to see from sea - the entrance is very narrow).
Hot Springs Cove was the first place where we actually saw a mooring ball. There were supposed to be moorings in Winter Harbor, but they were not where they were supposed to be. We picked up the mooring at 1700 - another full day of sailing!
We went into the hot springs that evening about 1900. We had been told that it was best to go in early or late, because tour companies from Tofino and Ucluelet brought lots of people during the day. Our first encounter with the springs was a success: we had them all to ourselves from 2000 to 2030 when we had to leave to keep our daylight. The walk to the springs was along a little boardwalk which was an amazement in itself (2 km). It was quite a joy!
The boardwalk was amazing too: people from all over had carved their boat names into the board of the walk. Every couple of feet, you would read another boat name. We even saw some names that we recognized on boats we saw later!
The springs themselves were great. There were 4 or 5 pools running down to the water from a waterfall. The top pool was probably about 105 degrees F. The next pool down was 100 degrees, and so on until the pool just before the ocean water was about 95 degrees. When the tide was up, the swells would come into the lowest pool and cool it off to tepid bathwater. We took our shampoo in one day and had a little bath in the lowest pool.
The water smelled a bit of sulpher, but you and your clothes didn't really retain much of this odor later after you dried off. This was truly an amazing place to visit, and we stayed for 3 days.
The west side of Vancouver Island is completely different from the east side. On the inside passage, if you're 50 feet off a shore, you're in 200 feet of water. On the west side of the island, if you're 2 miles offshore, you're in 150 feet of water. All of the inlets are deep once you get inside them, but their entrances are all hazardous with rocks.
We had heard good things about Hot Springs Cove, and were looking forward to a good soak. The wind started off light (5 knots), but within an hour had built to 32 knots. We reefed down the main and sailed at 6 - 7 knots in 30 knot winds (gusting to 38) for many hours. We had 25 knot winds all the way to the entrance to the Hot Springs (which are hard to see from sea - the entrance is very narrow).
Hot Springs Cove was the first place where we actually saw a mooring ball. There were supposed to be moorings in Winter Harbor, but they were not where they were supposed to be. We picked up the mooring at 1700 - another full day of sailing!
We went into the hot springs that evening about 1900. We had been told that it was best to go in early or late, because tour companies from Tofino and Ucluelet brought lots of people during the day. Our first encounter with the springs was a success: we had them all to ourselves from 2000 to 2030 when we had to leave to keep our daylight. The walk to the springs was along a little boardwalk which was an amazement in itself (2 km). It was quite a joy!
The boardwalk was amazing too: people from all over had carved their boat names into the board of the walk. Every couple of feet, you would read another boat name. We even saw some names that we recognized on boats we saw later!
The springs themselves were great. There were 4 or 5 pools running down to the water from a waterfall. The top pool was probably about 105 degrees F. The next pool down was 100 degrees, and so on until the pool just before the ocean water was about 95 degrees. When the tide was up, the swells would come into the lowest pool and cool it off to tepid bathwater. We took our shampoo in one day and had a little bath in the lowest pool.
The water smelled a bit of sulpher, but you and your clothes didn't really retain much of this odor later after you dried off. This was truly an amazing place to visit, and we stayed for 3 days.
Posted: Sun - July 25, 2004 at 01:08 AM