Michaela Cunningham is an entrepreneur and small business owner on Salt Spring Island, Canada, who returned to her roots a year ago to pursue a bold new venture. With little prior business experience, she took a leap of faith to create a unique thermal spa, which has since flourished into a thriving success.
When I returned to Salt Spring Island 🇨🇦 in 2021 after a twenty-year absence, I was standing at a crossroads. My life felt uncertain, weighed down by emotional, financial, and social challenges.
I had just begun a relationship with a man 27 years my senior, and I had left behind Vancouver—the city I adored—selling my condo and saying goodbye to dear friends. In exchange, I stepped into an uncertain future on a small island with limited social and cultural life. At the time, it felt as though I was walking away from everything I loved.
Yet, like so many people at the onset of Covid, I felt an undeniable pull to leave the city’s hustle for a quieter, safer place. To be honest, I can’t say exactly why I chose Salt Spring Island. My childhood there had been far from idyllic—my mother, my only parent, had kept me from attending school and provided little formal education or social interaction. But something about the island called me back.
A friend once told me, “Salt Spring has your name on it.” For years, I doubted those words. But now, after four years of challenge and growth, I see their truth. I’ve come to value the island’s best qualities—its spirit of adventure and entrepreneurialism.
Had I stayed in Vancouver, I likely would have continued climbing the corporate ladder, thriving on the city’s cultural and social offerings—playing traditional Irish music with talented musicians, hiking the Grouse Grind—but I would have remained the same person with the same perspective. Salt Spring gave me the space to reinvent myself, to shift my life’s direction out of both necessity and choice.
From Renovations to Reinvention
When we arrived in 2021, my first task was renovating two dilapidated houses—one to live in and one to rent. Neither of us had much experience with home repairs, so the learning curve was steep (and sometimes expensive). But over time, we developed the skills and confidence to take on projects that once felt impossible.
With modest rental income, I began teaching music online. While fulfilling, it wasn’t sustainable. So, I pivoted. My partner and I launched a Folk Music Club, hosting incredible concerts—but again, the venture proved financially unviable.
My next move was into short-term accommodation. I transformed part of our home into a 5-star Bed and Breakfast, then expanded to three more units across both houses. For two years, we poured our hearts into the business. I dreamed of building a small portfolio of B&Bs. But provincial and local legislation changed, severely restricting such operations. We had no choice but to close.
The loss was heartbreaking. Yet, I learned an important truth: dreams don’t have to die—they can evolve.
A New Dream Takes Root
When our B&B ended, my partner never faltered. Instead, he proposed a long-held vision: a thermal spa at our home, nestled in an enchanting old-growth forest of fir, arbutus, and cedar. At first, I was skeptical. But as we walked the property, I saw what he saw—especially the magical forested valley where the rest area of the Nordic Circuit would be.
We began construction in January 2024.
One of the joys of building on Salt Spring is the relationships formed with tradespeople. I’ve always had a knack for connecting quickly with others—a skill I developed in childhood when I had to seek help from adults outside my home. I assembled a talented, dedicated team who became not just collaborators, but friends.
I also worked hands-on through the coldest winter days—stringing tarps from low-hanging branches, huddling by a propane fire table, and pushing ahead despite the frost.
Arbutus View Thermal Spa
After six months of designing, building, and dreaming, we opened Arbutus View Thermal Spa in June 2021.
Nestled among towering 500-year-old fir trees, our cedar barrel sauna, hot tub, cold plunge, fire table, and relaxation area offer a sanctuary away from life’s noise. As one guest said, “If there is a heaven, this is what I imagine it will be.”
In our first 14 months, we welcomed more than 3,000 visitors and became one of Salt Spring’s top ten tourist destinations. Watching the awe on guests’ faces when they first arrive—and the deep calm they radiate after their sessions—is profoundly rewarding.
We run the spa twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Recently, we launched a second circuit for private bookings by individuals, couples, or groups.
On a personal level, the spa is also a gift. As someone living with Type 1 diabetes, I find the cold plunge especially therapeutic for lowering high blood sugar levels. And there’s nothing like soaking in the hot tub or sweating in the sauna, gazing at eagles soaring overhead or stars glittering in the night sky.
What began as an uncertain return to an island from my past has turned into a journey of reinvention—one filled with challenges, creativity, and resilience. Salt Spring may not have been the obvious choice, but it turns out my friend was right: it does have my name on it.
READ MORE > Her Story, Rambler Cafe Blog
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