CHECKING OUT TOFINO.
Day 260 – More than two months ago we made reservations for a Black Bear Watching Trip out of Tofino. It was scheduled for tomorrow morning. When it started raining this morning, we checked the weather and it still didn’t look good for tomorrow. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to change the reservation, but Jamie’s Whaling Station said they could fit us on Thursday’s cruise.
While we were ate it, this morning I researched restaurants in both Tofino and Ucluelet, the two towns that are on either end of this stretch of coastline. Both are always busy with tourists. Surfing, fishing, hiking, great beaches, and the various wildlife tours are a big draw. In addition to it being the beginning of the summer season here, it is a big holiday weekend here – Canada Day is Friday. Several of the restaurants we were interested in were already fully booked for the weekend. All were booked Saturday, so we ended up with reservations for dinner at 5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday nights. Friday is our anniversary and we’re glad we got a reservation for that night!
It rained all morning but not as hard as expected. We went out in the afternoon after lunch in the RV. It was our routine check of our new area to orient ourselves. Early in the week, rainy weather, and it was still very crowded. This is not a big town, but they can hold a lot of people seasonally. There are many campgrounds, inns, hotels, cabins, and a place near the water just for glamping – it looked like something military and covert to me.
There were more surf shops than there were gas stations, grocery stores, drug stores, real estate businesses, and ice cream/coffee places combined. We felt like we were in Hawaii, big wave country, and were looking forward to seeing the beaches. The choices for boat, seaplane, sea kayaking, deep sea fishing, diving, and hiking tours were overwhelming. Again, this is just a small town. When we were here briefly 40-something years ago, there was hardly anything here – it was just wild and beautiful. A shock to the senses.
We drove just out of town to the Visitor Center located in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. To enter a National Park in Canada, if you are going to spend any time there at all, it is recommended that you purchase a Discovery Pass. Every time you go somewhere in a National Park, admission can run you $20 per day for two people. Since we’re going to spend a month in Banff, Jasper, and Kootenay National Parks and stopping by other Parks, we bought a pass and it will pay for itself in no time. While we were at the Visitor’s Center, we also picked up more informational brochures. You can never get too much information.
Next, we visited several places within the National Park. We drove to Wickaninnish Beach, took a few pictures, and walked around. It was a nice beach and the parking lot was only half full – a good time to be there – but the large visitor center with its outdoor platform viewpoints was closed.
Our last stop for the day was Long Beach, claimed to be “the longest beach on the Pacific Northwest coast”. (Washington claims this also about their Long Beach.) The parking lot was fuller (and larger). This is one of the favorite surfing beaches in the area. The waves weren’t that big, but they do roll in nicely – not choppy or anything like that. Three surfers were just leaving. The beach was very nice, scenic, and amazingly clean. We walked around and took some pictures, splashed around a teeny bit. The thing that Tofino and Ucluelet are most known for is the winter storm watching. We’ve seen pictures of the waves during winter storms – really amazing. People come from around the world to see this, from what we’ve been told.
The high today was a cool 59 degrees; it was mostly cloudy, foggy, and rainy. We’ve heard that the people in western Vancouver Island are so used to the rain and fog, it makes no difference to them. Probably that way in western Oregon and Washington, too.