Woke up, popped up, peered out the front windshield. MacKenzie Beach in all its glory. Yes, its cold and foggy and grey this morning, but that's appropriate at this particular beach. If you poured a lot of sun into the mix it would be wholly unnatural. This is, after all, the west coast, and west coasters pride themselves on doing all the things that are done on any tropical beach - swim, sun bathe, surf, kayak - and doing it in 60 degree weather without benefit of excess sun. I strolled the beach for an hour or so, taking in the rugged beauty of the rocky coastline. There are big things at which to marvel - tall craggy rocks and huge firs - and small subtle things - an orange sea star clinging to a rock in a tidal pool, "newborn" barnacles at the base of a boulder. Found a little grotto tucked into the rocks that is likely inhabited by trolls. I've included random beach photos. Also, I've fallen in love with the driftwood along the shore on both sides of the island, in fact driftwood everywhere. I've taken so many photos of same that I may arrange a photo expose at the end of my journey. Coming to a gallery near you. :-) Into Tofino to arrange a trip to Hot Springs Cove which is on an island at the north end of Clayoquot Sound. The island is largely old growth rain forest and is also home to an amazing hot spring that bubbles out of the side of a mountain, creating a small waterfall and then flowing to the sea. Along the water's downward path several pools have formed that make lovely warm spots for "taking the waters." I sign on for a 1:00 departure with Remote Passages. Vessel is a zodiac again and wierdly enough the guide is named Simon just like the whale watching guide in Cowichan Bay(and equally knowledgeable about the local environment). Eleven passengers and 2 guides set out dressed in the requisite red rescue suits with yellow rain slickers (pic). On the way out the guide spots grey whale spouts and we move in close to whale watch a little. The greys are huge creatures and weigh around 35 tons. They don't breach often and the best we could typically see was the "steam" rising from their twin blow holes (looks like a geyser) followed by the top of their body arcing and rolling sloghtly out of the water. Didn't really get any good pics of the greys themselves. Once again, the tour boats have to stay ~100 meters from the whales. First water pic shows the spout although it's hard to see against the sky. There were several of the leviathans feeding in one area and we watched for quite a while before moving along only to run across a number of hump back whales also feeding. The humpbacks are also enormous and don't breach often, but they display thier tales occasionally and have a practice of slapping their enormous pectoral fins against the water - guide says they're not sure why, maybe to communicate or possibly to stun fish. Next 3 pics are of humpback back dorsal fin, tail, and pectoral fin (in the distance). Not very good pics but I tried to spend more time watching and enjoying and less time retentively trying to snag photos. When we reached the island, we ditched the heavy gear and trekked ~2 km through the rainforest to the hot spring (several forest pics included) and changed into bathing suits for the dip. Next to last pic is near the head of the spring showing the hot water cascading down the rocks. Last pic is me in the spring. The water was actually almost too hot in the top pools but combined with the cool air it was wonderful. Spent maybe the most relaxing hour of my life soaking in the little pools. The apparel is my nod to this amazing country - sorry Mom.
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