A Magical Place: Bishop Bay – Monkey Beach Conservancy

Bishop Bay – Monkey Beach Conservancy is a magical place to visit – only accessible by boat or floatplane. When Natasha Ewing, community liaison officer with BC Parks, got an opportunity to visit in the fall of 2021, she was very excited.

Natasha and two coworkers travelled to several protected areas within the Inside Passage, along the north coast of British Columbia. They were identifying a suitable spot for a marine long-term ecological monitoring site, and doing some routine maintenance and cleaning, but there was nothing routine about the experience.

Bishops Bay – Monkey Beach Conservancy is about halfway between Bella Bella and Prince Rupert. Recent upgrades were done to the aluminum dock and walkway. Mooring buoys, tent pads, and two trapper’s cabins built by the Haisla Nation are available for overnight stays, as well as a picnic area and of course, the hot springs.

The hot springs have a temperature of 38.8 degrees Celsius in the seaside bath house. The flow from the granodiorite bedrock flows at a rate of 32.4 litres per minute. The inside of the bath house is decorated with ocean floats. Natasha reminisces on her experience, “The best part was relaxing in the warm springs, while feeling a cool ocean breeze and hearing a dozen humpbacks play

and vocalize in the bay. It was simply magical and a place I have dreamed of going back to visit.”

Note: Public use of the Haisla First Nations cabins must be approved in advance from the Haisla First Nation, phone 250-639-9361 (ext. 362).