A Wood-Fired Floating Sauna Brings the Heat to Vancouver Island’s Chilly Waters

Aux Box’s first floating prefab mixes wellness and wilderness in British Columbia’s Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.

Mar 18, 2022 - 21:00

A Wood-Fired Floating Sauna Brings the Heat to Vancouver Island’s Chilly Waters

Aux Box’s first floating prefab mixes wellness and wilderness in British Columbia’s Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.

The experience is designed to be a total immersion with nature, a place of respite and wellbeing, silence and solitude. There is no cell service and no Wi-Fi -- and that is part of its appeal.

Since 2018, prefab builder Aux Box has carved itself a little niche with its tiny backyard prefabs. The British Columbia company’s yoga studios, offices, and compact living spaces can be craned into place, allowing property owners to add square footage affordably and in turnkey fashion.

Now, Aux Box has taken to the water at the Tofino Resort & Marina on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where it just unveiled a wood-fired floating sauna that a group of four can book for the day.

Inside the sauna, cedar planks line the walls, along with the floors and ceiling surfaces.

A half-hour boat ride through the UNESCO-protected Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve delivers you to the cedar-clad prefab, where you can enjoy a steam, plunge in the icy Pacific, or relax in a hammock before an afternoon of kayaking, paddle boarding, or fishing.

The sauna is located approximately 30 minutes by boat from the resort, deep within the UNESCO-protected Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.

To create the sauna, Aux Box modified one of its existing models, an 86-square-foot design with a covered deck and metal exterior cladding. Cedar was used throughout the interiors, from the floors, walls, and ceilings, and for the entryway and door. A large picture window, which was moved from the front to the back wall, gives guests a big, scenic view while they steam.