We rented a car which we picked up a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal and headed towards our next destination which was Tofino, British Columbia which is located on Vancouver Island. We tend to view the journey as part of the adventure and to get to Tofino a little journey/adventure is involved.
Tofino is a small city located directly on the pacific ocean as you will see from many of the pictures below. To get here it's a two hour ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo and then about a 3 hour drive on what is mostly a curvy mountain road. If you've ever driven the road to Hana on Maui, it's somewhat similar. The scenery along the way was awesome. Huge inland lakes and streams, massive fir trees, snow capped mountains and a few more curves!
Was the journey worth it? Let's put it this way. Beth and I have enjoyed traveling to many places around the world and we're asked all the time if we have a favorite(s). It's really hard to say, because every place is exciting and different although some are certainly more memorable than others. Let's just say we spent a lot of time today debating if we've ever been any place as unique and beautiful as Tofino.
Think ocean, mountains, fir trees all converging at the same time and that's Tofino. The pictures really won't do it justice. The beach outside our hotel http://www.pacificsands.com is about a mile long, 500 yards wide at low tide and 200 yards wide at high tide. Go a couple of miles either way and there are more beaches similar to this one. Some longer than others but all amazing.
Yesterday and today were mostly spent on foot exploring our beach (Cox Bay) and Chesterman Beach, however we also did about a 4 mile bike ride into the town of Tofino. Had dinner at a really cool little waterfront pub in town called Jack's Diner. While eating we enjoyed a sea lion swimming right below the dock, an eagle flying around being harassed by a much smaller bird and a raccoon wandering around on the ledge looking for a handout (a raccoon that wasn't roadkill, something we don't see too often in Texas).
Now about that Canadian Surfing Report. I hadn't really ever pondered the question before but if you had asked me if there was surfing in Canada I would have probably said something along the line of ice hockey-yes, downhill skiing-yes, bobsledding-yes, but probably not surfing. Boy would I have been wrong. This is a "surfing town"! Right outside our window we've been watching surfers since about 5:30 this morning. Right now it's 9:15 PM and the last surfers are just leaving the beach. Water temperature is around 55 degrees so a wet suit is required but the waves looked about 8-10 feet with very good form. While it may not be the North Shore of Hawaii, it's very good surfing conditions and there are a bunch of good surfers to watch.
Tomorrow we're exploring more beaches and the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet. A whole lot of walking going on,that's the Tucker way!
 |
| View from our hotel room-Pacific Sands Beach Resort |
 |
| Cox Bay Beach at Low Tide |
 |
| Frank Island at the South end of Chesterman Beach-There are a couple of houses on the island. At low tide you can walk to them |
 |
| Church in Downtown Tofino |
 |
| Ran into George Clooney out on the beach this afternoon! |
 |
| From our Table at Jacks Diner |
 |
| I had to stop and take a picture of this road sign. I've never seen a parachuting rat but at least I've been warned! Upon close inspection someone had painted the rat and parachute on the sign although it looked real |
