Toba Wildernest Marina is at the base of Toba Inlet and sports stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
Owned and run by Kyle and Andrea Hunter, it is a delightful place with 300 feet or so of along side moorage on newly renovated floating docks (Almost all of the dockage here is floating due to the extreme tides and most of the smaller marinas feature side ties on straight or “L” shaped docks).
The marina features three nice cabins with full kitchens for those who wish to stay ashore.
Kyle has cut in some 5 or 6 kilometers of walking trails thru the forest with lovely views of the inlet and water fall that provides power and drinking water to the resort.
This bridge looks like it came out of an Indiana Jones movie.
I mentioned that Wildernest gets its power from a waterfall. Kyle took a primitive hydroelectric plant put in by the prior owner and upgraded it to provide power to the resort – I think he told me it was capable of producing up to 60 KW but he normally runs it at 30.
Water from the waterfall is piped thru an 8 inch pipe down to a manifold where up to 4 3/4 inch nozzles drive a water wheel that drives a generator. Pressure at the manifold is 110 pounds per square inch. Normally only two nozzles are in service. Kyle designed and installed an electronic governor which regulates the flow from the nozzle to provide stable 60 cycle power.
Very cool. Without the system, Kyle would need to have genset and bring in diesel to run it.
While we did not get a chance to give it a go, another visitor was having great success trolling for King Salmon in the inlet. He was kind enough to give us 15 pounder which we are putting to good use.
If this all sounds like a bit of an advertisement – it is. Many of the smaller marinas (and they are getting smaller as we head north), are family owned and run. The season is short, the costs are high and the workload – well you can guess how much work it is.
Toba is a great place and Kyle and his family are working hard to make a go of it. They need all the support the boating community can give them.
