After leaving Port Renfrew on Tuesday following our lunch there, we went for a 2.5km drive up the coast to visit Botany Bay – part of the Botanical Beach Marine Park. We had 2 choices - a 2.5km hike to Botanical Beach or 1km to Botany Bay. We opted for the 1km Botany Bay route. As we approached the wooden stairs leading down to the beach, we were greeted by the spectacular sights and sounds of the ocean surf breaking on the rocks below us.
To say that Botany Bay is breathtaking is an understatement. Paulette and I have been to a lot of beaches on Vancouver Island over the years and this one is still right near the top with us. We’ve been here a few times now, yet every time we come it still seems like our first visit – I don’t know why that is, it just never gets tiring. Maybe it’s because the weather is different each time and makes the ocean and waves react differently. This was an absolutely perfect day – sunny, warm, no wind and no fog at all which is odd for the west coast of the Island.
The surf just foams and bubbles up over the rocks with a constant crashing sound!
The wide path down to the beach was fairly easy as it was not too steep - at least going down it wasn’t. The scenery on each side of the path was really interesting as we were right in the midst of the Island’s west coast rain forest with it’s Western Red Cedars, Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock.
This path through the forest down to the beach was about a 1 mile hike
The Western Red Cedar is the provincial tree of the BC First Nations People and is used to carve totem poles, clothing, baskets and canoes. The Sitka Spruce trees of Botanical Beach Park grow well because of the humid wet conditions of the park and can only be found within 80kms of the sea shore. The dominant tree of the Botanical Beach Park's rainforest is the Western Hemlock because it likes rain and shade.
Botanical Beach is well known for the many tide pools exposed at low tides. Purple, red, and orange starfish and sea urchins, blue mussel shells, white gooseneck barnacles, and green sea anemones and sea cucumbers only begin to hint at the spectrum of intertidal life that thrives here. So significant is this location that a research station was first established here in 1900 by a team from the University of Minnesota of all places!
The flat-lying and weathered sandstone cliffs were battered over time by wave-tossed boulders that made holes in the soft sandstone forming the tide pools. These honeycomb-style holes protect the mini eco-systems, flourishing in the tide pools, from the stormy surf.
Today, Botanical Beach is visited by thousands of people interested in the majestic beauty of the West Coast and it's rugged wilderness setting. Now, with a nice new paved road from Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew, we are lucky enough to have this spectacular location just 90 minutes from our home.
Have a great Thursday – and, thanks for visiting!
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