Tofino and bears

Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island on a one way in, one way out road. My family often camps there and I have never been. It was on the list for this trip.

My cousin Carolyn offered to drive us and it was going to be a long day with a bear tour booked for early evening. It was a 3 hr drive each way from Nanaimo. She was keen and we were due for a visit before we went home. We headed off around 8.30am and we were back fairly close to midnight.

The drive to Tofino takes you across island through mountains and past lakes. It is a very pretty drive.

As we approached Tofino, we noticed the warm blue sky was being invaded by a rolling fog through the mountains. It was quite eerie.

Our first stop was Long Beach and although it had the sand and the surf like home, it was not the same. The beach was scattered with logs washed in on high tide. Various structures had been built from the logs, most in a teepee style. When we walked onto the beach you could see the sea fog in the distance and by the time we left it had enveloped us. This was unlike any beach experience we had ever had.

Onto the township of Tofino for lunch and we sat dockside to enjoy the views. The restaurant was called 1909, but locally known as ‘the hatch’. The food was great, Wayne having a lingcod sandwich and I chicken waffles. Yum!

Tofino was originally a fishing village but like most beautiful places, the tourists have taken over. The town is charming boasting some amazing first nation art. If I had won the lotto, it would all be coming home with me.

We whiled away the day wondering the streets, eating ice cream and checking out another beach called Chesterman Beach. Here the same thing happened with the fog. Very strange experience.

It was time for the highlight of the day, a bear tour. We booked our tour through Westcoast Aquatic Safaris, but there are plenty of options available to find a bear if these guys are booked out. Our tour guide was Eugene and he was one with his boat. Very skilled captain and seemed to know the area like the back of his hand. We made our way into Clayoquot Sound in search of bears feeding on the shores on low tide.

Well, this scenery was next level. Bear or no bear, you couldn’t be unhappy cruising through these pristine waters. We were definitely in Canada! Eugene guided us around salmon farms, into every little nook and cranny in search of our elusive friends. There was a point where I decided to accept the journey as a site seeing tour rather than a bear experience as it seemed they were playing hide and go seek with us. Finally Mom spotted one off the port side of the boat and Eugene quickly confirmed we had a nice healthy female bear to view.

He stuck the boat in closer and the bear paid us no mind. She continued to flip rocks like they were pebbles looking for some tasty treats which she munched down while searching for the next snack. What a joy it was to see this bear. We stayed around with her until she started to head back into the forest. By this time other tour boats had joined us to watch. We moved on.

We saw 4 more bears after this, some closer than others. We did get a good look at a a shaggy male. Eugene tells us that the males don’t groom themselves and that is usually how you know the difference.

What can I say, as a tourist this was just the best experience but even my Canadian cousin was blown away by the tour. The fog started rolling in as we headed back to the docks, timing it perfectly because if the fog had been with us earlier, the bears would have been completely camouflaged by it. A long day, but worth every minute of lost sleep for sure! Next level happy 😊

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