by Keith and Heather Nicol
View near the Amphitrite Lighthouse |
We decided to
take advantage of a good weather forecast on Friday, January 16th to
head to the Tofino area on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island. Although
Thursday was rainy and windy, Friday’s forecast was for sunny skies and highs
of 10 C and so we quickly arranged some accommodation and set out from
Courtenay around noon. We arrived about 3 hours later and checked in. The
forecast was pretty much bang on and although the wind buffeted our Ucluelet
guesthouse that night, it did dawn sunny with light winds the next morning.
First we hiked a portion of the Wild Pacific trail in Ucluelet which we loved.
The huge waves rolled in smashing on rocks and tossing spray many meters into
the air. Be sure to see the Amphitrite Lighthouse which is on the upper end of
the 8 km trail. From there we checked out the Ancient Cedars trail which passes
by some monstrous trees and we highly recommend this 1 km loop which is located
near the lower end of the Wild Pacific trail.
Keith along the well named Wild Pacific Trail |
We then worked our
way north toward Tofino stopping at Florencia Beach and Long Beach. Close to 40
years ago we had visited Long Beach and at that time you could camp on the
beach and the entire area was much less developed. You can’t camp on the beach
now but there were lots of people beach walking , taking advantage of a fine
mid winter day. We also took a drive up Radar Hill but by now the clouds had
begun to roll in so our views were truncated. That evening we checked into the
Tofino Travellers Guesthouse which we suggest for anyone looking for great
value while staying in this area (see blog below for more details).
Heather walking along Florencia Beach |
Saturday, January
17th we visited the Eagle Aerie Gallery in Tofino which
features the amazing work of artist, Roy Vickers. We also visited North
Chesterman Beach and the surfers were out in force. This area has certainly
become a surfer’s destination and it showed by the dozens of people out playing
in the big waves that were rolling in. By mid afternoon the showers returned in
earnest so we decided to head back to Courtenay realizing that we had just
touched the surface of what this area has to offer. We can’t wait to return! For more information check out Ucluelet (http://ucluelet.ca/
) and Tofino tourism (http://www.tourismtofino.com/)
.
Surfing is alive and well at Chesterman Beach |
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