'It's looking really nice': Floating spa arrives at Victoria Inner Harbour

The HAVN Harbour Sauna Boat is pictured in Victoria. April 11, 2023. (CTV News)

A floating spa featuring hot tubs, cold pools and saunas, has arrived at Victoria’s Inner Harbour.

There are still several weeks to go before the official opening, but you can start booking visits right away.

The HAVN Harbour Sauna Boat was escorted into the inner harbour by a pair of tugboats Monday evening.

"You can book a spot and come for three hours," said HAVN designer, Nicholas Van Buren, on Tuesday.

"I think people are going to be satisfied. It’s looking really nice up top," he said.

The Nordic-style spa is built aboard a refurbished 1943 navy barge, featuring cedar woodwork made completely out of salvaged driftwood.

"All the wood that you can see up there is just driftwood logs that we took," said Van Buren.

"We didn’t want to cut down any old-growth cedar, so we collected logs out of the ocean with a good friend of ours and milled them all."

Upon opening, the harbour spa will include a reception area and change rooms on the main level – along with three saunas, two hot pools, two cold pools, and a lounging area on the upper deck.

"Phase one is the upper floor and change room and reception on the lower floor – and then there’s some other space we’ll build out for other things later, depending on what people want," said Van Buren.

For its creator, the floating spa is a work of art that was built for business.

"For me, it's a design and an art project, and then the thermal spa aspect of it is a great way for people to experience it," he said.

"And it's a business model that justifies the expense of creating something like this and makes it sustainable so it can keep going," said Van Buren.

The HAVN harbour spa has been under construction since last summer, spending the winter months docked at Ogden Point.

Now the facility is about 80 per cent complete and its crew is working as quickly as possible to open on June 1.

Bookings aboard the harbour spa can be made on the HAVN website.