Witness BC’s Single Largest Ecological Event
Zach Vanasse
March 16, 2023
It’s an exciting time of year to be at Outer Shores Lodge! In the coming days, billions of herring will gather along the coast of
At the edge of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Our all-inclusive experience includes daily excursions with expert guides and specialists, as guests explore coastal rainforests, rocky shores, and sandy beaches, encountering whales, sea lions, and sea otters, watching bears forage on the shore, and eagles soaring overhead. Guests explore the region by foot, from the comfort of our rigid hull inflatable boat, and sailing and exploring aboard our 21 m/70′ classic wooden schooner, Passing Cloud.
Our professional chefs serve three incredible meals daily, featuring locally-sourced ingredients, with wine, spirits, and beer served with dinner. The lodge itself, with its five rooms and two cabins, has been newly refurbished to reflect our Pacific Coast setting and provides our guests with plenty of space to rest, relax, and find connection in their surroundings.
Outer Shores Lodge is an ideal location for group and multi-generational family gatherings, reunions, retreats, and workshops of all kinds. We look forward to hosting you, please contact us for more information!
The lodge is situated on what was formerly one of many Huu-ay-aht villages called ʔuc̓uuʔa (pronounced “ootsuu-a”).
The village stood for many centuries at the current site of Outer Shores Lodge. This location is revered for its sweeping views out to the ocean, which was most important for Huu-ay-aht whalers.
Today, this remarkable five-acre oceanfront lodge consists of the main lodge with five unique spacious bedrooms, four with private ensuite bathrooms, and features a luxurious great room with massive stone fireplace, spacious dining room, a spectacular kitchen with secondary dining area, library, and workshop space.
The site also features two private cabins, a single-story cabin with one-bedroom and a two-story cabin with two-bedrooms and loft, each fully self-contained and situated on the adjacent bluff that offers wonderful panoramic views of Barkley Sound, including west coast sunsets and winter storm viewing!
Other on-site amenities include a beach-side fire pit, indoor steam shower, plus an abundance of private forests, gardens, and shorelines to find peace, solitude, and space for relaxation and contemplation.
Daily “expedition briefs”, including weather, tides, sea state, and specifics of activities and excursions.
Water-based excursions, explorations, and wildlife viewing, learning, and photography using rigid hull inflatable skiffs, complete with expert guides and specialists.
Sailing and explorations of the Broken Group Islands Unit of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve aboard our 21 m/70' expedition sailing vessel (March through May).
Interpretive walks and hikes with expert guides and specialists, including old-growth rainforests, bogs, estuaries, sandy beaches, and rocky intertidal habitats.
Cultural site visits, including guided tours of the ancient Huu-ay-aht village and fortress site of Kiix?in (www.kiixin.ca).
Tours of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Center (www.bamfieldmsc.ca).
Guided and self-guided wildlife viewing and photography, including bears, whales, sea otters, eagles, seals, sea lions, seabirds, and song birds.
Guided and self-guided activities including sea kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, snorkelling/free diving, and coastal hiking (casual to strenuous).
Spectacular panoramic views, sun rises, sunsets, and wildlife viewing from the lookout bluff.
Evening naturalist walks and presentations, including bioluminescence viewing, bat detection, astronomy, and stargazing.
Outdoor gear suitable for activity and season (e.g., waterproof footwear and rain wear).
Beach picnics, swimming, and tide pooling.
Outdoor games and equipment for the lawn, bluff, and beach.
Chef-prepared, plated and served, breakfast, lunch, aprės, and dinner (wine with dinner), all featuring local and sustainable foods.
Enjoyment of all lodge facilities and amenities, including outdoor sauna, steam shower, library, games room, surrounding gardens, forests, firepits, fireplaces and beaches.
Concierge and housekeeping services.
Our all-inclusive rates for 2023 are as follows:
Spring (April 1-May 22) and Fall (Sept 21-Oct 15)
3-nights: $2,160/person
4-nights: $2,880/person
5-nights: $3595/person
7-nights: $4,995/person
Summer (May 23-Sept 20)
3-nights: $2,695/person
4-nights: $3,595/person
5-nights: $4,275/person
7-nights: $5,985/person
If you’d prefer to have the lodge exclusively to your group of family, friends, or colleagues, please contact us for our private lodge buy-out rates.
It’s probably easier to tell you what’s not included. Transfers to and from the lodge are not included, and any alcohol beyond the wine, spirits, and beer served with dinner is not included. Gratuities are also not included, but are greatly appreciated by our staff.
Everything else, including all accommodations, meals, excursions, cultural site visits, wildlife viewing, lodge amenities, concierge & housekeeping services, and extra adventure gear is all included. See below for the full list.
Passing Cloud will be part of the Outer Shores Lodge experience from March through May of 2023, before she sails hundreds of kilometres away for the rest of the summer for her annual expeditions to the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii Archipelago. You can learn more about those distinct voyages here.
If you’re an early riser, you might start your day with some pre-breakfast bird watching or photography around the lodge, or sunrise yoga on the lookout bluff. Our day officially begins with a delicious breakfast served in the dining area, followed by a morning excursion. Daily excursions are determined based on the weather, wildlife, and season, but they typically involve either a beach /intertidal zone walk, a hike through the rainforest, or a sightseeing tour aboard our rigid hull inflatable boat.
That’s followed by lunch at the lodge, then another afternoon excursion to experience the nature and wildlife around Bamfield and Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. We always try to balance the intensity of the excursions each day, keeping one lighter and making the other a little more challenging. On days that we travel to the ancient Huu-ay-aht Nation village and fortress site of Kiix?in, we’ll have lunch at the cultural site itself.
In the evening, there’s always a little time to relax before dinner is served. Dinner is then followed by more downtime in which you can watch the sunset from the lookout bluff, enjoy a campfire, do some stargazing, read a book in the great room, or simply retire to your room at your leisure. At specific times of the year there might be an evening educational presentation from an expert in a particular scientific field. Of course, you are free to take your leisure time as suits you throughout your lodge stay, participation is never mandatory. We encourage you to simply enjoy the overall experience at the pace that suits you best. After all, it’s your vacation and we want you to enjoy it
Outer Shores Lodge is located on the western shore of the remote wilderness village of Bamfield and the traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. Largely accessible by air and water only (except for a few logging roads), getting to Outer Shores Lodge is an immersive and compelling part of the overall lodge experience. Transfers to and from the lodge are not included in our all-inclusive packages, however, our team is here to help advise you with your travel arrangements as necessary.
We have established 3-night, 4-night, and 7-night lodge stays to conveniently align with the passenger ferry schedule out of Port Alberni. The MV Frances Barkley passenger ferry operates three round trips weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The ferry, which features a small restaurant and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, is the ideal way to travel to Outer Shores Lodge, as it sails along the gorgeous Alberni Inlet to Bamfield. This approximately four-hour voyage gives our guests their first opportunity to spot wildlife like eagles, sea lions, and whales. The ferry then drops our guests off at the West Bamfield dock where our lodge team waits to welcome them to Bamfield and take them and their belongings the short distance to the lodge itself.
Our lodge team can also assist with facilitating reservations on scheduled and chartered float plane services from Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo.
Additionally, a variety of private non-scheduled water taxi services can be arranged from either Port Alberni or from Ucluelet.
And finally, the West Coast Trail Express shuttle services Bamfield daily from May 15 to September 30 leaving from Victoria and Nanaimo. The company also offers private transport in one of their 10 passenger vans throughout the year.
It’s an exciting time of year to be at Outer Shores Lodge! In the coming days, billions of herring will gather along the coast of
In recent Logbook entries we’ve been focusing on the history of Outer Shores Lodge as it relates to the lodge’s original founder R. Bruce Scott.
You asked for it and we heard you! Ever since we announced the opening of Outer Shores Lodge this past spring, so many of you
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+1-250-510-3313 (Expeditions)
+1-250-650-2930 (Lodge Stays)
Monday – Thursday
9:00 – 3:00 (Pacific Time)
PO Box 361, Cobble Hill, BC, V0R 1L0, Canada
