I was on a solo journey from Vancouver to Tofino in the middle of winter with no car
all in the hope of catching some storms. The weather forecast for the next few days warned
of an atmospheric river which usually means we'll be getting a lot of rain. While it certainly would
have been easier to get there with a vehicle I didn't really feel like driving to twisty roads
to Tofino during an atmospheric river. Luckily, it is possible to get there without a car.
Once i had reached Nanaimo on Vancouver Island I needed to
keep myself entertained for about two hours before I could get on the bus to Tofino.
Luckily it was quiet at the terminal so I was able to sit and have a coffee and do some work.
Outside the terminal is the bus loop and here is where I got on the bus
that goes all the way to Tofino. It has many stops in between as well
so it seems like a lot of people use it for getting around on the island.
Three and a half hours later I was dropped off at my stop.
Tofino is a small town with around 2000 residents that is situated halfway up the west coast of
Vancouver Island. The town itself is at the very tip of a peninsula but the place I was staying at,
Ocean Village Resort was actually just shy of the town centre though still part of the
district of Tofino. Ocean Village Resort is located right in front of Mackenzie Beach,
one of several beautiful beaches in the area and is one of Tofino's oldest beachfront resorts.
It's made up of many 'beehive'-style cedar cabins built in 1976 by the Hellesen family from Tofino.
New owners and took over in 2009 and updated the original cabins.
You can choose from one to two-bedroom cabins or studio suites.
I chose a studio suite on the top floor which has a balcony and an excellent view of the ocean.
An alert message is in effect for your area. Here are the public alerts for the region. A rainfall
warning is continued for west Vancouver Island. Today cloudy 60% chance of showers this morning,
rain at times heavy beginning late this morning. About 20 to 30 millimetres.
Fog patches dissipating near noon. Gale warning in effect. Wind south 20 to 30 knots becoming
south 20 this morning and increasing to southeast 25 to 35 early this afternoon
Like I had mentioned earlier I was hoping to get some stormy weather during this trip. While
Tofino is known as a surfing destination and is extremely popular with tourists in the summertime
more and more people are visiting in the winter as well for storm watching. The coast of Tofino
faces the Pacific Ocean with nothing - no landmass - between itself and Japan. This makes it an ideal
recipient of storms generated across the sea most of which come from the Aleutian Low near Alaska.
But it wasn't until 1996 when the McDiarmid family built the Wickinninish Inn on Chesterman Beach
that the activity of storm watching really became a tourist attraction.
While you might not be able to predict very far in advance when a storm will roll in
they are most likely to occur between the months of November to February. I booked three nights
here, giving myself two full days to catch a potential storm. On my first morning out I
could see that there were some decent waves that surfers could surf on but it wasn't windy enough
for anything crazy. Nevertheless the beach was incredibly beautiful and such a treat to take in.
One perk of staying at the Ocean Village Resort was that the well-known Tacofino food truck was
less than a 10-minute walk away so I went there for lunch. There are Tacofino restaurants and
trucks all over Vancouver now and one in Victoria but the original food truck started right here
in Tofino back in 2009 in a surf shop parking lot. I've heard that lineups can be two hours
long in the summertime. I got a fish taco, a tuna taco, and their famous diablo cookie.
It was incredible and I don't know what it was but it tasted even better than at the restaurants.
So this one is the tuna and this is the fish taco.
In the afternoon the rain started up again and I headed back out onto the beach.
There were lots of surfers out but I didn't stay out for long as I got drenched.
I'm soaking wet. This is why you need a waterproof jacket and pants and boots.
Afterwards i went to use the resort's indoor heated pool and hot tub. They
currently let you book time slots per family which meant I got it all to myself.
A rainfall warning is continued for west Vancouver Island.
Gale warning in effect. Wind south is 10 to 20 knots increasing to suddenly
25 to 35 this morning then becoming southeast 20 to 30 after midnight.
The next morning I headed back out in the pouring rain to watch the waves. I was glad
I had brought waterproof pants, though I wish I had my rain boots. I wasn't able to bring them on
this trip so I just had my Blundstones which got soaking wet this time. Still, it was worth it.
For lunch I went back to Tacofino, this time to try a crispy chicken burrito. It was hefty and
did not disappoint. I also grabbed a chowder from Wildside Grill next door which was also delicious.
Funny enough, on the morning I checked out the
weather cleared up. So it seems I had picked the right days to come.