Around the World in 8000 days: Tofino

Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.

Showing posts with label Tofino. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Black Bears in Tofino

Whilst Nic was eager to avoid encountering a bear when he was out in training for his half marathon in October, we were both quite keen on finding a few to watch in a more controlled environment.

We had seen black bears when we were in Whistler, back in 2013, but we rather liked the idea of the tour here, that takes you out on a boat to watch them as they comb the shoreline at low tide.

Black Bears in Tofino

Of course, low tide also means early morning, so this was the start of what was to become a worrying pattern over the next few weeks, of far too many alarms set for a time that I would generally expect to be fast asleep.

But we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, grateful at least, for the fact that the Remote Passages tour company was only a few minutes stumble along the road!

Black Bears in Tofino

We were soon kitted out with our waterproof gear, and then we were off into the zodiac. Mind you, whilst this was a zodiac, after being used to perching on the edge of a small zodiac in the Arctic and Antarctic, this big one with actual seats, felt like a luxury option.

We set off across the water at a brisk pace, a little concerned about how misty it was, and so whether we would be able to see any bears at all.

Black Bears in Tofino

Thankfully, whilst it stayed rather dull and dreary, the worst of the mist cleared away, and so visibility at least wasn’t going to be a problem. The next question was would we find any bears?

After around 45 minutes, we reached the area where we were hoping to spot some bears. Sure enough, we soon spotted a couple foraging on the shoreline, though sadly they only stuck around for a few moments before disappearing into the trees.

Black Bears in Tofino

It wasn’t long though until we found two more bears, and this time they were completely unperturbed by our presence, and we were able to watch them search along the water edge for goodies like barnacles, clams and other creatures. It was fascinating to watch them roll over the rocks to see if there were any tasty morsels hiding underneath.

Some of the rocks they moved were big too. Unfortunately, the best series of photos that I have of this are pretty rubbish, because there was that one person in the boat who somehow managed to constantly get into my frame, which took the focus out, but I’ve included them anyway, as you get the idea.

Seals, Tofino

After a while watching these two, we set off in search of others. We stopped briefly at a rock that had seals hauled out on it, and again to check out a bald eagle, but the destination was a nearby cove where a mum and cub had been spotted by one of the other boats.

However, by the time we got there, they had gone, probably due to the appearance of a big male bear, just along the beach.

Bald eagle, Tofino

Male bears have a tendency to kill cubs, as the mothers won’t mate all the while they are looking after an infant, so when mum reappeared, she was on her own, probably having left her cub safely up a tree somewhere close by.

We watched these two for a while, and then, as we were getting close to the end of our time, set off to see if there were any others around elsewhere. We hadn’t yet found any more, when we heard that the cub had been seen again. Unfortunately, though we got there quickly, we arrived just in time to see them disappear into the woods. Clearly this wasn’t our day for seeing more than a fleeting glimpse of a cub.

Black Bears in Tofino

But then, we had just started to drive away from the shore, cameras all being put safely into their cases to keep them dry, when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted movement from the treeline. The mum and cub were back. I told our guide, and he quickly turned us back around, and then slowly, so as not to scare them off again, we edged closer.

Third time lucky; we got to see the cub properly. The male was now far enough away that mum was content to bring the cub down to the shore to search for food with her. We got to spend a while with them before it really was time to go back.

So, all together we saw seven bears, which we were pretty happy with, especially having finally seen that cute little cub.

Black Bears in Tofino

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Tofino and Ucluelet

Tonquin Beach, Tofino

When we were first in Victoria, and indeed ever since, we have had people extolling the virtues of Tofino to us, so we figured we had to come and see for ourselves what all the fuss is about.

Tofino

In retrospect, I’m not sure we really gave ourselves enough time here, as we didn’t have long enough to fully explore the rainforest trails and beaches that people like so much, but then if we had stayed longer, we would undoubtedly have eaten even more bad things than we did, so perhaps that’s for the best.

Pedestrian crossing in Tofino

The town is quite tiny, with the main centre being basically just four blocks in each direction, and a few roads leading out. The resident population is about 2,000, but in summer, they are way outnumbered by the arrival of around 20,000 visitors at peak times.

Tonquin Beach, Tofino

Surprisingly, the town doesn’t feel all that crowded most of the time. It helps that people don’t really come here to spend time in town, they come to walk the trails, swim and surf, so most of the time they aren’t clogging the place up. The restaurants, and one or two pubs can get busy in the evenings though; it’s best to make reservations at the most popular ones if you want to avoid a long wait for a table.

The town is very much a resort, with lots of gift shops, tour operators and surf shacks, but it feels remarkably laid back and not tacky. Mind you, we certainly experienced a sample of that less pleasant side of a ‘small town’ mindset with one man that we met in his shop. We were talking, and he asked us where we were going to eat. When we said we were going to Wolf in the Fog – a place that gets excellent reviews, he railed against it quite vehemently.

Tonquin Beach, Tofino

It was one of those tirades that had little to no facts or justifications involved, just a lot of very negative opinions. We were already mentally dismissing him as having some kind of grudge, just based on his attitude, when he confirmed our suspicions by complaining about how the owner was a newcomer who wanted to open later at night, and how he didn’t want those people walking back past his house in the evenings.

We went to the restaurant regardless, and thought the food was excellent, and more interesting than most. Nic especially enjoyed his octopus and pork cheek main course. We also went to SOBO, which did have the ranting man’s seal of approval, but while we enjoyed it, we thought Wolf in the Fog was better, and it had the better wines too. One place that we did resist trying, but we heard very good comments about from our fellow hostellers, was Big Daddy’s Fish Fry.

Tonquin Beach, Tofino

We’re not beachy people, but we felt that being in Tofino, we should at least make it to one, so we wandered up to the closest one, Tonquin Beach. It’s only small, reached via a short walk through the woods, but it is lovely. The woods come right down to a pretty little sandy cove, and there are rocky outcrops at either end. These were the best bit for us, as although the tide was coming in, we just about had enough time to poke about amongst them and check out the multitude of life clinging onto the rocks.

Barnacles were the main inhabitants, but there were other molluscs and a number of sea anemones too. We rather enjoyed peering at them, even though we did have to be wary of getting wet feet from a stray big wave coming in, or from our trainers sinking into the wet sand and ending up in a pool of water.

Wild Pacific Trail, Ucluelet

On another day, we drove over to nearby Ucluelet, for lunch and a walk around the Wild Pacific Trail. We took the Lighthouse Loop, a 2.6km walk around part of the headland. We had hoped that we might just spot a bit of wildlife in the water, watching out in particular, for the elusive sea otter, perhaps snacking on its favourite sea urchin, but alas there was none to be seen.