18 June - Bligh Island to Hot Springs Cove

Tuesday dawned bright with very little breeze and so we decided this was a good window to get around Estaevan point, the last of the 'challenging' headlands heading south on the coast.  As we left Nootka sound we motored into a growing swell with no wind.  The rest of the way down to Estevan Point was uneventful as we bobbed along in 2 - 3m swells.  As all the guidebooks say, it seemed to take forever to get around the point but eventually we managed to head east having passed the only bit of North America to have been hit by the japanese in World War 2 (a submarine appeared in early 1942 and shelled this very isolated point)

In a few more hours we pulled into Hot springs cove.  We were really lookiing forward to experiencing this amazing natural phenomenon but we waited until the last of the float planes and tourist boats had left before heading over to the dock and hiking the 1 1/2 km down a very well maintained boardwalk to the hot springs.  They are truly spectacular with wonderful deep pools that you can lounge in at varying temperatures.  The last of the pools are lapped by the sea and it is quite an experience sitting in a warm pool that occasionally gets inundated with cooler sea water.  After a wonderful long soak, and some interesting conversations with a few others that had come over in the evening to enjoy the hot springs, we headed back to the boat refreshed and clean :)

19 June- Pushing on to Ucuelet

With settled weather and limited options to explore around Tofino, we decided on Wednesday to head for Ucluelet.  For us this would bring us back onto familiar ground, crossing our path from last year and gave us both a feeling of having 'done the island'.  We set off early as it was still a long slog and as we got into the ocean swells again we had little wind so motored until we got level with Tofino.  After this this wind picked up and we managed to get the sails out.  As the afternoon wore on, as forecast, the wind kept increasing and by the time we rounded Amphitrite Point into Ucluelet we were being pushed along by 25 knots of wind in quite lively seas.  Once we got round the corner though, thingscalmed right down and we were soon tied up against the 52 steps dock.  We went for a pleasant stroll round town and then had a nice dinner, settled into somewhere we knew.  As the evening wore on, we started hearing some live music coming from downtown and on investigating, we found most of the town had come down to a free concert being thrown for the first year anniversary of the opening of the Break Cafe and Bistro; a fitting end to the day for us