2012 Trip 5 - Pacific Swift

Trip 5 - Day 4. This day was indeed a most luxuriously lazy day, with an even more relaxing goal in the minds of the trainees and crew...Hot Springs Cove! Everyone awoke to bright morning sunshine slowly drifting through the skylights on deck, and the watches tucked into a hearty breakfast of porridge and delicious morning glory muffins. After breakfast the anchor was weighed and the Swift motored out from Tofino Harbour and headed north for her short run to the cove. On the way the afternoon was spent lounging on the warm deck, many trainees studied, some fished. Zack, Kyle and Zane, diligently dropped their lines again and again, the thought of deliciously fresh fish on their minds. Unfortunately with only a few nibbles, the fishing was not quite a success, THIS time. The Swift then cruised slowly into the quaint Hot Springs Cove. A small bay opens before us, dotted with a few yachts and many buzzing float planes. Tall hills green, yet bristly with dead silver snags, sit craggy against the bluish sky. They loom over a cluster of houses that cling to the rocky shore. Scant few, scraps of mist hang lazily in the shadows and hollows behind the hills. First it´s a pre-dinner TNT*, then a slightly earlier one sitter dinner, of mouth watering beef stroganoff! Needless to say there wasn´t much left for seconds, or even thirds for that matter. We eat a slightly earlier dinner, so as to get to the hot springs in good time, but also to let the locals, and other visitors have their own soak without being swarmed by a ship full of salty sailors! We bide our time with port watch tackling the dishes for supper. A massive array of various sized dish tubs lay spread across the hold table, and the members of port watch gladly accepted the generous help of Emily in the washing, and all sang merry opera songs involving forks and plates. Once this deed was finished everyone excitedly awaited their watches turn to be motored quickly by the Zodiac to the large dock that protruded out into the bay. Now, the hot springs are not near the anchorage for the boats, it is a journey to get there. A long boardwalk snakes it´s way through tall moss covered trees, and the beginning of the evening sun´s fiery glow stabs through the upper canopy, bathing the dense under growth a rich orange. Though the forest walk itself is beautiful and stirring, the planks that we tread on are just as stunning. People who visit the cove and the hot springs, take the boardwalks planks and carve the name of their ship into the wood. To see all the names of others that have come before us and to walk where they have walked, is quite something. Soon we arrived at the hot springs, but before we emerged from the trees a pungent sulfur smell wafted between the trees. We crossed a small wooden bridge where the water from the springs boiled and gurgled over rocks white with minerals. Then the trees opened here and we came out above the hot pools. The hot springs themselves are in fact in their own small cove. A large rock blocks most of the entrance but waves still surge into the cove and into the lower pools. At the head of the pools, a scalding waterfall pours down from above, and the water pools in hallows between the sides of a large rock cleft. Warmest at the top then progressively cooler the closer you get to the ocean, until the breakers, dash against the lowest rocks, sending foam spray into the air soaking the brave bathers in cold water. A gloriously relaxing evening indeed! All too soon the sun crept behind an island and night began to fall. The trainees after changing began the walk through the dark forest back to the ship, it was a time to reflect in the peaceful silence of the old trees, stars twinkling above. Back aboard the Swift a quiet mug up wrapped up another truly unforgettable day.
  
This has been, a day with Brendan Lacy

*Tuck N' Tidy