Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in Volume II of B.H. Magazine. For access to future issues, subscribe here.
The works of J.M. Barrie birthed the legend of a faraway utopia, a mythical world known as Neverland. Imagined most famously through the eyes of Peter Pan, the fictional island, which is difficult to find and only reachable by plane or boat, became a metaphor for the purity of childlike innocence. Those who found it would enjoy boundless dreams.
Nimmo Bay is Craig and Deborah Murray’s Neverland. Upon hearing whispers of a glacier-fed waterfall and a remote inlet deep in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, the young couple went in search of the paradisiacal bay – and later made it their home. Against all logistical odds, the pair opened a fishing lodge in 1981 inside a rough-around-the-edges float house. Despite being inaccessible by road and starved of electricity, word eventually got out, and the lily-pad-style accommodation quickly became the stuff of Canadian legend.
Fast forward 40 years and Nimmo Bay is a far cry from the low-frills anglers’ escape it once was. Now, there are half a dozen tidal cabins lining the moody shore, and three tucked into the rainforest, each offering remote luxury like nowhere else on Earth. The resort is still owned and operated by the Murray family, and while the price you pay to enjoy this coveted slice of storybook heaven is high (inclusive rates start at CA$8,099 per person for three nights), it’s worth every penny.
The adventure begins in Vancouver, where a charter plane flies north to Port Hardy. Guests then board a piece of aviation history, an amphibious Grumman Goose, built in the 1940s – one of only a handful in the world still flying today – for a 20-minute hop across the Broughton Archipelago.
There’s no script at Nimmo Bay. The warm and excitable staff will deliver on all fronts and encourage you to become the main character in your own fairytale setting. You’ll just have to accept that no visit will be long enough to do it all.
For some, the priority might be spending all day on a floating sauna, inserted via a guided paddle that spoils the water’s glass-like stillness. Here, you’re left in complete isolation, enclosed by the rainforest on all sides, with only a gourmet lunch, a robe, and a radio. Locally sourced wines, beers, and ciders are also on hand to keep you hydrated between each swim and sweat.
Whatever your definition of a “wellness day” may be, it doesn’t get more wholesome than bracing water and sizzling coals, while watching the weather change through the sauna’s window. Resort staff might ping you every few hours for a pulse check, but their only request – during a day with no rules or run sheet – is that you’re back by sundown.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many activities are included in the rate, each of which will fight for space in your consciousness to become a core memory. Enjoy guided hikes, kayaking, paddle boarding, a twilight jacuzzi by the waterfall, and the floating sauna. If it’s a birds-eye perspective you seek, like mountain biking remote peaks via helicopter, or casting a line in some of the purist estuaries you can ever imagine, Nimmo Bay will happily feed your passion, at an additional cost.
The endless rainforests and deep fjords that encircle the resort hide all kinds of wildlife: bald eagles, black bears, orcas, wolves, and most intriguingly, grizzlies. If it’s your mission to see one in the flesh, an experienced guide will be waiting with kayaks at dawn for a one-on-one paddle to make it a reality.
The clang of rocks being overturned by the mighty claws of a grizzly bear is a chilling sound to hear as you cruise along the shoreline. Floating just metres away from one of the most feared predators on the planet, the precariousness of your position in the food chain becomes inescapably clear.
Back at the resort, Nimmo’s culinary credentials are just as respected as its mastery of the wilderness. Fresh seafood and foraged plants are heroed by the chefs and each meal can be as much or as little of an occasion as you like.
Those who appreciate food must tick the “Taste the Wild” experience. Aboard an expeditionary fast boat, a skipper, a marine scientist, and a chef escort you to some of their favourite spots in the resort’s vicinity to harvest a truly unique menu. You’ll dive into the biting myrtle-green waters to sample uni and nori, and pull up giant coldwater prawn traps before the team expertly prepares and presents your haul.
After lunch, you’re invited to sink into a food coma by the crackling fire or leap from towering cliffs nearby to shock you out of it. The choice is entirely yours. The food experience continues back at the lodge, where the chef who accompanied the expedition prepares another one-off degustation featuring all of the wild produce you collected during the day.
A flickering communal fire offers the perfect post-dinner perch for a wine under the stars, but it won’t be long before your homely suite – each equipped with two bedrooms and a lounge area – pulls you into its cocoon-like embrace. Inside, it’s impossible not to succumb to the sound of lapping tides or cascading falls within minutes of resting your head.
For most, Nimmo Bay will only ever be a far-flung mark on a map, a dream layered on dreams. But if you can ever afford to visit, you must do so at least once in your life. Like Neverland, it’s an extremely rare find – one where creature comforts, passionate service, and childlike exploration work in complete harmony. The wilderness is both a playground and a sanctuary; and those who dare to walk on the wild side will forever be enchanted by its magic.
If you’ve enjoyed this feature story, consider a few of our other favourites from the pages of B.H. Magazine:
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- Silk Shirts & Stolen Identity: Revisiting The Style Of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’
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