After the early morning of the previous day, today we had a nice sleep through to 8am. We had to be out of the Beach Club by 11am so after a bit of a tidy up, a nibble on cookies for breakfast and a shower or two, we decided to take a short walk along the boardwalk to see the sand sculptures in the daylight. The theme of all the sculptures were fairy tales and it has to be said that they were very impressive. By making a donation of $10 we were allowed to walk round and put a coin in the box next to the sculpture we thought was best. After much deliberation I voted for Jack and the Beanstalk. Toby went next and voted for Snow White because of a very impressive apple carving. Tracy decided next and went for a shock vote for Hans Christian Anderson, which was very controversial as all indications had been a vote for Thumberlina. Then we all waited for Harry to make his choice. There was a lot of deliberating! It got to the point that we had to remind Harry we had to check out the hotel by 11 and he needed to hurry up! He was torn between Humpty Dumped Me and the Fairy Castle. Finally, with the pressure really on, Harry plumped Humpty. We’re all convinced our choices will win so we’re going to check the website when we get home and see who won.
With our expert judging complete, we checked out of the hotel, loaded the car, topped up the gas, turned on the movie screens, started the GPS and we were off. Next stop Port Alberni, about 50kms across the Island towards Tofino. After about an hour of going up and over hills and through valleys we reached Port Alberni. I’d read in a brochure that walking along the harborside was a good place to see bears on the the other side of the river. You would need some pretty impressive binoculars though because the other side of the river was a long way away! The bear hunt goes on. We had a short stroll around in the very warm sunshine and then Toby announced that “we are hungry”. Turns out the “we” was in fact “he” but nonetheless we saw a nice looking Mexican restaurant with a good list of specials on the board and so in we went.
Half an hour later we were all happily stuffed having munched our way through breakfast burritos, fish and beef tacos and some quesadillas. Feeling pleasantly stuffed the next logical place to stop was the shop selling the “best donuts on Vancouver Island”, well it would have been rude not too!
Having packed a way a donut each, we got back in the car, restarted the movies, set the GPS and off we went. Next stop Tofino! The drive was a lovely one. Mountains, although not very big ones, lakes, rivers, narrow twisty roads and unfortunately still no bears! I am going to be very disappointed if I don’t see a bear this holiday! It was only a couple of hours to our hotel/cottage and as we drove the sun shone brightly. However, just after hitting the Pacific Rim highway, on the final few kilometres before arrival, we hit a big bank of fog! The sunshine went and the temperatures dropped. We started getting worried, this was not how it was meant to be. A few kilometres on though and the blue sky and sunshine were back. What a relief, but not for long. As we got just 5 minutes from our hotel we plunged into another bank of fog. Darn it! We parked the car and checked in. Reception told us that the fog had been behaving rather oddly for the last few days which was no consolation. before heading to our cottage we checked the beach out. It was foggy. There were lots of people surfing, playing and doing beach stuff; it was all very normal apart from they were just doing it in the fog!
With the car unloaded into our rather lovely cottage (with under floor heating and outdoor hot tub) we decided to take advantage of the fog and head to Tofino itself. It’s only 10 minutes up the road but it was bathed in sunshine – looks like our hotel is located in its very own fog bank! We parked the car and started mooching. Tofino is clearly a draw for the hippie community as well as the surfing community. We checked a few shops out to try and find Harry a wetsuit but with no luck, they were all too big. Enquiries were also made about bear and whale watching tours. It looks like it will be an early start for the bears with the boat leaving at about 6:30am! Final stops in Tofino were the supermarket and liquor store to stock up for the week.
When we returned to our cottage the fog had gone and we were in sunshine again. In case the next bank of fog was on its way we quickly got changed into our shorts and went down to the beach. It has a slight chill to it with the wind whipping off the sea but it is a lovely sandy beach. The boys checked the water temperature and it was cold! This is definitely Canadian sea! It was low tide so we checked a couple of rock pools and found sea stars like the ones on Alki and plenty of anemones. A bit further round the beach we also found two anemones eating the leg of a sea star which was rather unpleasant.
With the tide starting to turn we came back to our cottage and the boys were excited to go into the hot tub so in we all went. It was lovely! The jets were on, the water was 105 degrees (fahrenheit), the sun was out and the beer was cold! Perfect! After the hot tub it was time to sit down and watch some Canadian TV – which is basically American TV – it is identical. They may have their own TV channels but they are certainly hidden away somewhere. After a late tea, Toby and I went down to the beach again to see the sunset. It wasn’t as spectacular as Parksville but I think we just need to find the right location. Toby took some time post sunset to refine his sand sculpture from earlier. He was very proud of his totem pole creation, and rightly so!
And with that it was time for bed. The early start the day before had caught up with us (and the fresh sea air) and we were all in bed just after 9. It’s a good job we were too because a bird smashing a snail on our back patio would be waking us up at just after 6am tomorrow morning!