What Is San Josef Bay And Where Is It?
San Josef Bay is a scenic spot in British Columbia, Canada. It is on the northwestern end of Vancouver Island within Cape Scott Provincial Park. San Josef is located about 70km (43 miles) from the small town of Port Hardy where you will find some accommodations, shops and restaurants.
San Josef is an area with sea stacks, some with trees growing out of them. The drive isn’t that long but the roads aren’t all that great so it does take a lot longer to drive the 40 or so miles over there than one would expect it to take.
What Is It Like To Travel To San Josef Bay On Vancouver Island?
No matter how you are traveling, it takes a bit of work to get to Vancouver Island and then a bit of work to get to the northern end of Vancouver Island. The most common place to fly into Vancouver Island is the town of Victoria but you may be able to find flights into other towns like Comox or Nanaimo. Wherever you fly into you’ll need to get a rental car to head down to the Northern part of Vancouver Island.
If your car is on the mainland because you’re on a road trip or because you flew into Vancouver, you’ll get to take one of the BC ferries from Vancouver over to Victoria or another BC Ferries stop of your choice. The ferry each way, generally comes to about $100 CAD. The ferries are quite nice, have wifi, shops and restaurants.
Once you are all set with your car on Vancouver Island, it’s a long windy drive from the southern end of the island to the northern end of the island. From Victoria all the way down to Port Hardy the drive is about 500km (300 miles) and takes about 5.5 hours. Once you get to Port Hardy you’ll have another hour and forty minutes to get over to San Josef.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo At San Josef Bay On Vancouver Island?
When photographing scenes at the beach, a good photo is all a matter of taste. Do you want a bright sunny beach? Do you want a stormy beach scene? Do you want something in between?
The first thing you’ll need to do is figure out what kind of photo you want to bring home. Once you get a picture of that in your mind, you’ll need to look at the weather forecast assuming there is more than one possible day you can go to San Josef Bay at Cape Scott. If you’ve only got one day then you’ll just have to work with the weather conditions you’ve got.
When it comes to photographing San Josef Bay, the best advice it to take your time to frame up the best shots you can given the current weather conditions. I personally like the stormy look in this photo but had the skies been a bit more clear, they might have turned fiery for a really awesome sunset shot.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing San Josef Bay At Cape Scott Provincial Park?
For photographing San Josef Bay, most any camera will work for photos to post to Facebook. If you want higher quality files then a full frame DSLR or mirrorless camera will delivery better files for larger, quality wall art prints. If you go out in stormy conditions or for sunrise or sunset when the light may be low, a tripod will come in handy. It should be a tripod that will not get gummed up when set in sand and salt water.
This might be a spot for a panoramic setup but it was too stormy and foggy for me to scout out anywhere that a panoramic setup might come in handy. The hike from the car out to San Josef Bay is a flat easy one so any added weight from camera gear that may or may not be used will not be much a consideration.
What Is The Story Behind This San Josef Wall Art Photo?
During late 2015 and early 2016 I spent a lot of time on Vancouver Island on two separate trips. The first trip was spent on the south end of the island. It included time around Comox, Tofino, Uclulet, and Victoria. The rainforests, beaches and hiking trails through the forests were absolutely incredible. The food and especially the fresh fish were amazing.
The second trip just a little bit later featured a return to some of those spots but also a slow meander down to the northern end of Vancouver Island. I wanted to see as much of the island as was practical given the weather conditions.
Eventually I made it the full 300 miles from the south end of the island to the northern end where I found a home for a while at the North Coast Trail Backpackers Hostel in Port Hardy. Unfortunately it rained most of the time I was there. Fortunately it was a nice, comfortable and nearly empty hostel at that time of year. The foul weather kept me indoors for much of the time. I did make it out to Eternal Fountain. On the one day that looked like it would be pretty clear or at least not be a complete washout, I decided to head over to San Josef Bay. There were a lot of gravel roads on the way to San Josef and the 70km driver over was indeed a fairly slow drive.
By the time I got there, it was a bit stormy. I drove through some areas of rain and a little sleet or snow. The skies were dark enough upon arrival at Cape Scott that I took an umbrella with me as I made the hike out to San Josef. The tide was out but the sand still wet.
Soon after I started shooting, the skies started to open up a bit. With stormy skies, and darkness rolling in, there wasn’t much time to see a whole lot and there wasn’t much time to take many photos or break out the panoramic gear at all. Given the conditions, the shots of San Josef and the unique mix of beach, sea stacks and trees combined with the fog and storm clouds, some pretty cool photos came out. The last couple days I was in Port Hardy, it rained almost constantly so there wasn’t another chance to go back and shoot again.
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