I had visited Victoria on one previous occasion; 18 years ago, in the spring of 198o, I drove Jim Tiessen's girlfriend's car from Victoria to Edmonton. Her mother met me at the Eaton's cafeteria and paid for lunch. I don't remember much else, except that she told me that a killer whale had been stranded in a nearby bay a year or two earlier. I thought that was pretty neat. Today, Victoria seems a pleasant enough place, although it has that unmistakable air of a government towns everywhere: no visible means of support.
During the afternoon, we checked out the harbour which was... well... pleasant and which , though it was only May, was already crawling with tourists, some of whom (many of whom actually) were willing to be get dressed up in vivid orange flotation suits and zip off in souped-up Zodiacs in the hopes of sighting whales.
After a pleasant dinner at the "Water Club", we wandered back to the Harbour, where a huge crowd had gathered for a free concert by Jann Arden. Arriving in town on the day of Arden's concert was a bit of serendipity since Heidi and I both quite like her music.
A stage had been set up over looking the water, giving the lucky few moored boats the best seats. The rest of us landlubbers congregated on the road. After listening to part of the opening act we decided that standing on the road for the whole concert would be stupid. We hadn't planned on standing in a de facto mosh pit for the evening so, we moved back. Eventually we found a place to sit, with our view of the stage obscured by one of Victoria's many trees. No matter, we thought, we could hear just fine; and anyway the stage was set so high above the harbour that nobody could see much anyway. Given the choice between comfort and a good sight-lines, I'll take comfort any day of the week.
As it turns out, a full evening of Jann Arden was more than we had bargained for. I like Arden's music much better in small doses. After an hour, we decided that she was just too morose, so we packed up and headed back to the hotel.
We set off for Tofino just after breakfast the next morning. It's a good 4 or 5 hour drive and the first half, up the east coast of the island, was really uneventful. Heading inland at Nanaimo, though, we started to climb, and it started to rain. The farther we went the more tortuous the road became and the harder the rain fell, until we found ourselves driving through sheets of water, crossing the road on its way from the sheer rock face on one side to the alpine lake on the other.
After the storm we drove through Pacific Rim National Park in relative calm, encountering the first of many giant banana slugs, and arrived in Tofino by mid-afternoon. We had booked 3 nights at the Tide's Inn bed and breakfast through the internet, and managed to find the place with no difficulty.
From the road, Tide's Inn is an unassuming bungalow. Its 3 guest rooms though are all at the back and that is a different story. The house had been renovated to make each guest room self-contained (i.e. full bathroom, sitting area, and small sink) and to give each a private entrance. We settled in quickly and met with Val Loman, the owner, for a brief rundown of local attractions and restaurants. This was our introduction to her warm and generous hospitality which, over the next few days, made our visit especially memorable.
Val told us of a small beach, a favourite among locals, called Tonquin beach which was just a short walk from the house. We set off soon after to check it out.
The beach is about half a kilometer back from the road, over one of the many boardwalk paths which turn walking over the temperate rainforest floor from an ordeal into smooth sailing. The beach is only 2 or 3 hundred metres long and is quite secluded, but not completely so. Through the trees, you can see several palatial chalets which are clearly used only as vacation homes. We poked around the beach and examined the tidal pools for a good hour and a half before heading back to think about dinner.
Most of the local restaurants had left menus in our room and we settled on the Raincoast Café, because the menu looked good and because it came with positive reviews from Val's past guests. It turned out to be a great choice. The restaurant was quite stylish and the food rather exotic; as might be expected given Tofino's location in the heart of salmon and crab country, it featured lots of fresh fish.. They even had,, probably the best carrots I have ever had in my entire life.
On Monday morning we had a wonderful surprise. Val Loman's breakfasts turned out to be just as spectacular as the ocean view from her guest rooms. We ate with a young couple from Alberta and another from Washington. Conversation came easily as we sat with Val, drinking coffee and watching crab boats, eagles and mountains out of the floor to ceiling windows which span the entire back of her house.
It looked like rain was moving in when we headed back into Pacific Rim National Park later that morning. We followed a descriptive trail through the rainforest, past some massive trees that were 300, 400 and even 500+ years old. The rain never came to anything so we headed to Long Beach (an unimaginative but accurate name). The surf was still quite heavy from Sunday's storm, and a few die-hard surfers took to the breakers to make the most of it. We, On the other hand, took a leisurely walk along the beach, collecting the odd shell, and stomping the air pockets in kelp which the storm had washed ashore. We ate our lunch among the driftwood, then wandered back to the car.
On the way back to Tofino we visited Radar Hill (an equally unimaginative but accurate name) which had been the site of a radar installation, constructed during W.W.II as part of a network to detect intruders from Japan. It turns out that development of Tofino had been kick-started by the war in quite a significant way. In addition to the radar installation, an airport had been constructed to service the radar site and also for training. It is still used today, though mostly by absentee owners of palatial chalets in spots like Tonquin beach.
There is nothing left of the radar installation now except for some concrete pads and a plaque. The views of the ocean to the west and Claoquat Sound to the north are quite spectacular though. While we were at the top of the hill we noticed several hummingbirds who didn't seem to appreciate our presence much. One particularly aggressive little fellow would position himself about 10 metres above our heads and then drop straight down towards us, veering off at the last second and then chattering at us from mid-air for a few seconds. Clearly we weren't supposed to be there.
Later, Val Loman told us that the look-out at Radar Hill is the starting point for a trail which leads to one of the best beaches in the area. It takes about an hour through the forest to get there, and longer to climb back, but it is sheltered and secluded, and the locals say it is worth the effort.
Tofino is an interesting little town. It isn't just a fishing village any more, but it is too far off the beaten track to be much of a tourist trap. It is popular enough with tourists to support a number of art galleries in town, mostly featuring West Coast native artists. After our visit to Radar Hill, we found a large gallery, owned by and almost exclusively featuring work by local artist, Roy Henry Vickers. Actually, calling Vickers an artist is doing him a disservice - he is more of a one man industry.
The Eagle Aerie gallery building is reminiscent of native longhouses, and the interior is dark, quiet and serene. Vickers paintings are displayed on the perimeter of a large room, each piece bathed in light from it's own spotlight. In the centre of the room, there is a sunken seating area featuring a few Vickers sculptures and copies of his books. Towards the back is a door leading to an office/gift-shop, featuring the obligatory reproductions of the most popular pieces, as well as Roy Henry Vickers T-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs, books (in several languages) calendars and more. Even though Vickers artwork clearly has broad appeal I found the "brand"-packaging to be a bit excessive; we left without buying anything.
That evening we returned to Tonquin to watch the sunset. While I was clambering over some rocks looking for tidal pools, Heidi sat peacefully watching the surf and the sun. When we met up again she asked if I had seen them. "What?" I asked. "The whales" she said. "No." Apparently, 2 small whales (or large dolphins) had swum right across the bay. Heidi had tried to get my attention, but I was so caught up in clambering that I had missed the whole thing.
After a second indulgent breakfast at Tide's Inn, we set off for Jamie's Whaling Station. We had booked a day trip to some natural hot springs on the recommendation of some of Val's other guests, and the boat left at 10 sharp. The vessel for our cruise up the coast was to be the Sharp Point, a covered cruiser, about 25 feet long, with seating for about 10. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and true. (But that is another story.) Her powerful engines whisked us up the coast, past fjords covered with virgin forest, past some of the many salmon farms on the western island, arriving at the springs after about 90 minutes.
There is a boardwalk trail from the dock to the hot springs. Previous visitors have carved the names of their boats, often in intricate detail, into the first three or four hundred metres of boardwalk. After walking for about half an hour, the smell of sulfur becomes unmistakable, and we come across a small stream of steaming hot water. There is a waterfall, and someone has thoughtfully placed a couple of boards under where the water is falling most forcefully. I stand under the waterfall for a couple of minutes but it is almost too hot to bear.
Below the waterfall, the water flows through a narrow channel to the sea. There is a series of small pools in the channel and a handful of other visitors are lounging in them. The skipper of the Sharp Point told us that "in the old days", visits to the hot springs were "clothing optional". There is no sign that anyone is the least bit interested in continuing the tradition during our visit.
I make my way to the pool closest to the ocean and settle in. It is nearly high tide and though the swells aren't huge I can hear them sloshing on the other side of a small rock pile at the end of the pool. Occasionally a wave will rise higher than usual and the cold salty wave-water mixes with the steaming sulfurous pool-water bringing the temperature down considerably. With a constant feed from the spring, though, it doesn't take long until the pool heats up again.
On our way out of the hot springs bay we passed a small rocky peninsula. As I glanced at one of the rocks it disappeared into the surf. The mate had seen it too and he announced to nobody in particular, "There's a grey". The skipper cut the engines and waited for the whale to surface. I never saw it again, but one of the other passengers said they saw it dive again, about 100 metres away. We raced to the new location, and waited again. This process repeated itself several more times before we gave up and headed down the coast.
The skipper had reported our sighting to Jamie's Whaling Station, and learned that, while we were at the hot springs, another group had seen a grey whale at a spot called Cow Bay. We pulled into Cow Bay and sat for ages hoping that the whale had not moved on. It hadn't. For the next half hour we followed the young, 30 ft whale around the bay as it dove to the bottom to feed, then returned briefly to the surface for air. Towards the end it surfaced and remained there for a couple of minutes, relaxing after its meal. The next we saw of it was when it surfaced, barnacle covered, right beside the Sharp Point. It was checking us out. Then we watched it disappear, a great shadow below the surface.
We returned to Tide's Inn for our last night in Tofino, and another dinner at the Rain Coast Café. The next morning the rain came back and we packed up for the drive back to Victoria, en route to Vancouver.
Back to Summer '98
Part of Stuart Brannan's website. To see the entire site, click here. This page was last built on 25-Jul-98. [I fixed the dates on 31-July-98] Thanks for checking it out! Stuart
