Tofino

This weekend is a National Holiday celebrating Canada Day and we have travelled to Tofino situated in the Pacific West Coast Rim National Park for a relaxing couple of days on the coast.
We drove from Victoria yesterday, knowing it would be a four hour plus journey. It took seven hours! Great Britain is not the only country addicted to traffic lights and road works!! There is only one road into the area and we had been warned there would be a delay due to the ongoing recovery of a section of road affected by wildfires a few weeks ago (there were several!). When we finally got to the section in question it was quite a sight. Huge cranes held aloft what I can only describe as steel mesh curtains secured at the bottom by massive concrete weights, whilst the work force attempt to deal with the dangerously damaged trees that naturally cling to the cliff face before they fall on to the narrow road. It was something to behold and a major engineering undertaking. Once through the obstruction, the road twists and turns, up hill and down dale. Slopes are clothed in temperate forest. There are clear blue lakes and fabulous vistas along the way. Sorry, no photos as we were chasing the clock and dare not stop - perhaps on the return journey.

It was an early call once more this morning. We had to be at ‘Jamie’s Whaling Station’ at 6.15am. We were taking an early morning boat trip entitled ‘Tofino Bear Cruise’ from the jetty. Dawn had broken and the sun was just coming up as we left. The water was as still as a millpond (thank goodness). This is an area particularly well suited to being viewed from the water. Temperate rainforest grows down to the water’s edge, clothing mountains, islands and islets alike. There are a myriad of small islands off the coast here and in fact all the way up the coast of British Columbia. The sea is blue and the sunlight sparkles off its surface. It is ravishing.

The wildlife appeared to also be on holiday and sightings were sadly rare, but the scenery made up for it. A pair of Bald Eagles sat on a couple of telegraph poles watching us curiously as we put to sea. We did later see one of them catch a large fish for breakfast -
stunning sight. The highlight for me was a group of about twenty sea otters feasting on their backs in their inimitable fashion. They are so gorgeous and it was very special to see them in the wild. Finally we did come across a Black Bear foraging on the shoreline of Meares Island. We watched as he industriously turned over the rocks looking for crustaceans. After a while he suddenly seemed aware that we were there and giving a disdainful glance over his shoulder ambled back into the forest. We caught a distant look
of another later on and apart from shoals of moon jellyfish here to breed in the sheltered waters that was our haul. We disembarked ready for breakfast and by the time we had eaten it felt like it was mid afternoon! Most of you know that we are not fans of the dawn rising, but this one was so worth it, even from me!!Read more