Then, at the last minute, it veers left, banks over the tiny community of Pender Harbour and sinks lazily to the smooth green waters below, pulling up neatly at the Painted Boat Resort Spa & Marina dock.
Now that's door-to-door service.
Although it requires hours to reach many of the West Coast's spas and resorts, it's taken us only 30 minutes to fly via Saltspring Air from downtown Vancouver to this rustic-elegant resort on the Sunshine Coast. You can also reach Painted Boat by car and ferry.
Then again, given that it's the folks at Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts behind this project, perhaps it's no surprise things work so smoothly here.
CRMR, after all, is the company that owns Buffalo Mountain, Emerald Lake and Deer Lodge, as well as such Calgary restaurants as The Ranche and Velvet. This is its first venture outside the Calgary-Rockies region.
"I got involved in it as a financial investment," says Pat O'Connor, who owns CRMR with his wife, Connie. "Being an investor, you get more and more interested in the investment."
Although today it's recognized for its spa, cuisine, outdoor activities and luxurious accommodation, Painted Boat started as a real estate project.
Like many newer properties on the coast, Painted Boat is based on fractional ownership, where owners have access to their villas for set periods. If they choose not to use their time, the villa becomes available to paying guests, with a portion of what they pay for accommodation going back to the owners.
And what they pay for is pretty darn nice: bright, spacious two-bedroom waterfront units with custom furniture, gourmet kitchens, hardwood floors, soaker tubs, high ceilings and patios with barbecues. With pullout sofas, each unit can sleep six to eight couples.
Since it opened a year ago, The Restaurant at Painted Boat has become as popular among locals as it is among guests, thanks to chef David Cox's inventive way with West Coast ingredients.
The Spa at Painted Boat, which opened just a few weeks ago, offers seven full-service treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy room and a glacial clay room, as well as an esthetics facility.
Treatments focus on the healing elements of the sea and range from the sea algae bubble bath to body masques, massages, scrubs and facials.
The spa is a beautifully designed, calmingly child-free zone.
But perhaps its biggest draw is the serene spa garden, surrounded by Douglas fir and Arbutus trees, and the soothing sound of waterfalls.
Lounging by the spa garden's hot and cool pools, wafted by the sea breezes, it's easy to imaging you're a million miles from civilization. And yet it's only 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver.
If You Go
- Getting there: Painted Boat Resort Spa & Marina is in Madeira Park, part of the Pender Harbour community, on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. You will need to take the 40-minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale; it's then a 60-minute drive from Langdale to Painted Boat. Visit www.bcferries.com. You can also arrive by charter float plane. Saltspring Air flies direct from Vancouver International Airport or Vancouver Harbour to Painted Boat. Visit www.saltspringair.com.
- Staying there: Painted Boat offers 31 fully appointed, two-bedroom luxury waterfront villas with everything from Internet access to barbecues. Packages start at $210 a night, and range from accommodation-only to spa weekends, gourmet getaways and kayak stays. To reserve a villa, call 1-866-902-3955; for more information, visit www.paintedboat.com.
- What to do there: The Spa at Painted Boat offers a full range of treatments in a wilderness setting. The resort also has a fitness centre, hot tubs and infinity pool, as well as a gourmet restaurant. You can also explore the surrounding area and go sea kayaking, hiking, horseback riding or fishing, take a marine or seaplane tour, visit art galleries, play golf, or just sit on a sunny patio somewhere and enjoy the spectacular view.
