Brady's Beach, Bamfield, Vancouver Island
/On what is dubbed the "west side" of Bamfield, the portion of town accessible only by boat, is Brady's Beach. You can't get more west coast than this: trees gnarled from the near-constant wind, craggly rocks jutting out of the smooth sandy beach, boat access only, and remains of beach fires dotting the tide line. If you're lucky, bioluminescence blooms shine brightly during warm summer nights, making the water look like it's full of billions of tiny green-blue fireflies. Each wave that laps along the shore leaves a little glowing line, and any sort of movement in the water makes a burst of light. Although the water temperature doesn't warm up much even in the summer, swimming is a must if there's phosphorescence.
We decided to come by boat directly to the beach instead of parking at a dock on the west side and walking the forested trail to the beach, which meant getting as close to shore in the boat as possible and then jumping off and wading to shore.
Coming by boat also meant that we had to anchor it off shore. Captain Patrick was smart enough to borrow a paddle board to get to and from the anchored boat. Not picture here: all the times he fell off trying to get past the breakers at shore.
