Tofino, British Columbia
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October 2024
At the end of a very mountainous, 2-lane, hairpin Highway 4 on Vancouver Island in British Columbia lies a gem of a town called Tofino. Population 2500 of “pirates, hippies, and artists,” according to our AirBNB host. It is within the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. For decades, it has been a magnet for tourists. Sea planes shuttle people from Vancouver and Victoria. People come to surf, to hike, to fish, to watch whales, and to witness the storms that roll in from the western seas.
Floating houses in Clayoquot Sound, Tofino, BC.
It is a trek to get to Tofino if you don’t brave the single engine amphibious floatplane. We converged in Seattle: 4 women who met many years and seemingly a lifetime ago in DC. In the intervening years, a pandemic happened; also marriages and kids and job changes and apartment changes and moves across country and all the flotsam of life. The stars finally aligned, and we were together on board the Victoria Clipper V, headed to Canada. It’s a 3 hour ferry across the border to Victoria, then a 5 hour drive on Highway 4 to Tofino.
Out and about town, Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA, USA.
Friends together again, Victoria Clipper V, departing Seattle.
Catching up on the ferry.
Arriving in Canada, view of the Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC.
A 5 hour drive from Victoria – Clayoquot Sound from the living room window of our AirBNB, Tofino, BC.
Many wonderful conversations over wine and a cheese plate.
The trip was inspired by a photograph of a floating sauna. In the middle of the rugged nowhere, surrounded by fir and pine-covered small rock islands, on a floating wooden deck in a sheltered bay of the Clayoquot Sound accessible only by boat, is a wood-fired cedar sauna.
Floating sauna in the Clayoquot Sound, Tofino, BC.
Wood-fired sauna in the AirBNB, built by the same guy who also built the floating sauna. Wood fire, built by me.
The art of sauna-ing.
Bald eagles circle overhead, and harbor seals pop their curious snouts out of the calm waters. Tofino and Clayoquot Sound face westward at the Pacific Ocean, unprotected by any mountains. There is no rain shadow. It rains all the time, one of the wettest locations in Canada, sustaining the temperate rainforest biome and the coastal fog that sits in every bay and inlet. We were lucky to have a rare day with no rain, when we were dropped off by boat. With naught else than a walkie-talkie “programmed to the Coast Guard if you need it,” we had an afternoon alone in paradise.
Being ferried to a floating sauna.
Dropped off in the middle of the rugged nowhere.
Fire and water, hot sauna and cold saltwater plunge, charcuterie and wine, hammock and paddle board, solitude and friendship.
Chef of the floating sauna.
Incredible charcuterie spread, incredible view. Floating sauna somewhere in the middle of Clayoquot Sound, Tofino, BC.
Good food, good wine, good company.
Peeking out of the wood-fired sauna window, gathering the gumption to jump into the water for a cold plunge.
Hot sauna, cold plunge by jumping off the deck, charcuterie and wine. Rinse and repeat, all afternoon.
Paddle boarding from the floating sauna – there’s an oyster bed by the rock shore for foraging and snacking, if you feel peckish.
I’m reminded again that there is exquisite beauty in this world. It’s within the rugged coastline of the Pacific Northwest, and the rain and fog of the Clayoquot Sound. It’s within the curiosity of the orca whale spyhopping as the ferry passed by, and the majestic flight of the bald eagles overhead. It’s in the decades-long friendships rekindled over oysters and martinis. It’s in the shared wisdom and friendship of women who have lived a bit of life, have less fucks to give in middle age, and can encourage each other to live in – and treasure the beauty of – the moment, because the moment and our perspective is the precious agency we have.
Empress gin martinis – cheers to a great girls trip!
October 13, 2024
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