Day 11 - July 20, 2010 11:59 PM

July 20, 2010
11:59 PM

Traveling to Tofino.

We got up later in Nanaimo and loaded the car up for the final westward push to Tofino. We grabbed breakfast from McD's and did a quick stop to refill the cooler. We were off to Tofino by 11:00 AM.

The drive took us through really nice lake country gradually climbing into smaller mountains. At about 1:30 PM we stopped at a rest stop called Taylor River.

The kids found the clearest water they had ever seen. The water was clear right to the bottom with very little current. There were also diving rocks probably 30 to 35 feet high. We spent an hour as the kids enjoyed the diving into the river. Who knew that an unscheduled rest stop break would be one of the highlights of the trip.

We got back into the car and started the roller coaster ride down from the mountains toward the coast. These were probably some of the most twisty and steep roads we had encountered. As we made our way down we gradually entered the rain forest which in Canada means huge trees some of them larger in diameter than the car.

We arrived in Tofino about 4:30 PM. We found our hotel and went out on foot to explore. Tofino is a harbour town with amazingly steep roads leading up from the port. Most of the businesses consist of outfitters and tour operators. We watched a float plane take off from the harbour and saw all kinds of boats.

We booked a whale watching tour for tomorrow. The boys were interested in surfing, but lessons will take upwards of 4 hours which will be difficult to schedule in. We will be looking at a scuba diving option as this may take less time as they have had experience doing that.
All ocean activities require a wet suit because of the temperature of the water. Wet suit rentals are included in the activity prices.

Next we found a restaurant for supper. Turned out to be an organic, all natural restaurant which translated to expensive for six people. The food was really good and our server reminded us of a valley girl although it turned out she was originally from Winnipeg. Looks like tomorrow we'll be more selective and eat at a crab shack or something. Seafood rules the menus here.

After supper we decided to do one of the hikes in the area. It was a 1 KM hike on a board walk, many stairs up and down, through the massive trees to Schooner cove. The signs promised the possibility of a baby seal encounter on the beach. It was a nice but tiring walk. When we got to the cove, the tide was coming in quite quickly. We explored the beach and then walked back.

So far we note the lack of bugs of any kind during our hike. I also note the lack of birds with the exception of crows.

Tomorrow promises to be an interesting day. I hope the temperature warms a little as today it didn't get above 17 in Tofino.