Nimmo Bay Resort

Arrival is by floatplane from Port Hardy, touching down on Mackenzie Sound where the dock, not a driveway, marks the start of the stay. Nimmo Bay sits on the province's central coast, inside the Great Bear Rainforest, with no road access at all. Nine cabins make up the resort: six raised on stilts over the intertidal zone, three set back in the forest near a waterfall. Guests reach the outer coast by boat or helicopter rather than car. A Coastal Safari runs by custom boat through the Broughton Archipelago's inlets and fjords, tracking whales and bears along the shoreline. Heli-fishing and heli-hiking trips push further, landing near glacier-fed rivers and remote beaches inaccessible any other way. Waterfront cabins 1 and 2 stand directly over the tide line, with a loft bedroom above a ground-floor room and full views of the sound and helipad. Cabins 5 and 6 hold the only bathtubs on the property, set beside large soaker tubs after a day on the water. A Pelton wheel, installed in 1982 and fed by snowmelt and a nearby waterfall, still supplies most of the resort's power. Meals draw on local seafood and foraged ingredients, served dockside, on excursions, or at a floating open-air dining room reached by boat. The Murray family has run Nimmo Bay since 1981. Floating saunas sit just off the dock, steps from the water they overlook.