Aug 23, 2012 - Last Full Day in Tofino

Tomorrow we head back over the mountain. Today we visited a couple of beaches and took a last look at Tofino Harbour. We discovered Chesterman Beach, which lies just to the northeast of MacKenzie Beach. Chesterman is divided into north and south beaches around Franks Island. The two beaches are connected at low tide. It is much more expansive than MacKenzie Beach and supports surfing at the north end of the north beach. It was a windy day, so we also drove to Long Beach in anticipation of seeing some large wave searching. But we were...

Aug 23, 2012 - Clayoquot Sound

Clayoquot Sound is the name given to a relatively inaccessible part of Vancouver Island that stretches through the center portion of the island from the mountains to the Pacific Coast. It was an area of large temperate rain forests with huge trees, many of them more than a thousand years old. Last Thursday evening we attended a presentation by a couple members of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound. The purpose of the group is to preserve what is left of the forests. A majority of the forests have already been wiped out by clear cut logging...

Aug 22, 2012 - The Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens at Tofino are different from the mainstream botanical gardens in large cities. We began our visit with lunch at the garden's Charles Darwin Restaurant. The lunch was a veggie-healthy kind of lunch but turned out to be quite tasty. The botanical gardens were a combination of temperate rain forest, chicken farm, and vegetable/flower garden. Although not even close to matching the beauty of others we have visited, Tofino's version has its own sort of charm. We visited with the chickens for a short time and then headed...

Aug 20, 2012 - MacKenzie Beach

Crystal Cove Resort sits directly adjacent to MacKenzie Beach. The sandy beach is located in a sheltered inlet of the Pacific with a crescent shaped shore along which are several resorts. It is doggie heaven. Had a healthy Arnie been here he would have romped and had a blast. The beach is open to off-leash dogs and there would have been many playmates. This morning we discovered what an amazing place MacKenzie Beach is. It is very different at high tide and low tide. I had noticed the other morning that people were walking to a rock island...

Aug 19, 2012 - Route 4

The traumatic emotions of last week and the ensuing melancholy that still lingers have obscured for us what a neat place the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island is. Last evening I began to look around a bit and to reflect on this place. I’m going to try to make a couple of entries over the next few days to highlight its features. As bad as the trips back and forth to Port Alberni have been, it must be said that the challenging route 4 has some great scenery. It is particularly scenic going from Port Alberni to Ucluelet. Much of the first...

Aug 18, 2012 - The Saddest of Sad Days

Every pet owner knows that day will come. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. Arnie went down hill fast over the past couple of months. On Wednesday we took him over the mountain to Port Alberni to see a vet because of the stones that he had eaten and because he was mysteriously bumping into things. While the stone problem was hopefully resolving itself the bumping escalated into near blindness. By yesterday it was becoming clear that whatever was causing his rapid slowdown and seeing issues was getting worse and would not get better....

Aug 14, 2012 - Tofino

When we were in Nanaimo seven years ago, I drove our car to Ucluelet and Tofino. I decided that the mountainous road was too difficult for the See Ya, so we did not take the motorhome there. This time we did! The drive took about three hours with another hour for lunch. I had envisioned stopping along one of the mountain lakes for a scenery enhanced lunch. But, it was Sunday and there were too many cars and campers along the way and we were unable to find a spot. So lunch was in the Walmart parking lot in Port Alberni. Port Alberni is a...

May 12, 2011 - Nanaimo and Tofinio

Auf in den kleinen Surferort Tofino... mit der Faehre ging es nach Nanaimo auf Vancouver Island. Dort hatte ich einige Stunden Zeit zum erkunden des kleinen Kuenstlerortes..Dann ging es per Bus weiter. Die Insel ist alleine 500KM lang und 100 breit! 4,5 Stunden durch dichten Rainforest hoch und runter. Aber lohnt sich. Ein wirklich schoenes Plaetzchen. Bin 3 Naechte geblieben. Ein tolles Holzhostel direkt am Wasser mit Panoramafenstern und Traumausblick. Wanderungen zum Strand und durch den Wald.. unter anderem den Wild Parzific Trail an...

Sep 21, 2010 - Tofino

So, we've had the obligatory days of rain, one of which was the day before yesterday, when we pretty much stayed holed up in the rig, except for a few breaks when the torrential rain stopped and we managed a walk on the beach. (Even then, it was lovely.) Yesterday, though, the sun came through, so we bought our park pass and stopped a few places in the park. We were surprised to learn that RVs are forbidden to go into some places (Radar Hill, for example; Incinerator Rock, for another). Note to self: a polite note to Parks Canada expressing...

Sep 18, 2010 - Unexpected pleasures

We woke up this morning to the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof of the RV. Although the trip so far has had its share of grey days, we've only had one other rainy day, so we prepared to make the best of it. First off, laundry, and then a bit of computer work, and then perhaps a moody walk along the mist enveloped beach ... However, by late morning you could actually see blue patches, and by early afternoon the sun was clearly out! So we pulled the plugs and hoses, left them in a heap in the campsite, and headed in to Tofino for a...

Sep 17, 2010 - Back to the West Coast

Today we drove the rest of the way across Vancouver Island from Sproat Lake Provincial Park to the Pacific Ocean, along Highway 4 past Sproat Lake, past Kennedy Lake, and through Pacific Rim National Park to Tofino. The drive is spectacular, and especially on a nice sunny day, which it was. The road is paved, two-lane highway, a bit winding in spots, but pretty good, and as I said, spectacular. Tofino was crowded with tourists--most of them apparently German--even this late in the season, and the streets are lined with surf shops, outdoor...

Jun 4, 2010 - Tofino

Tofino is my new favorite place! its this amazing tiny town! It's like a northwest Hawaii, everyone is a surfer, tons of RVs and other vans camping, parking, and boondocking.. I think it was the friendliest place I've ever been... the first day was long, the drive was far!! I had no clue our neighboring island (Victoria Island sits next to a good chunk of Washington state)was so BIG! it took about three hours to drive from where the ferry landed in Nanaimo to Tofino.. slow windy roads.. then we drove through the few blocks of town, and...