Getting Our Bearings PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 02 September 2004 00:00
The first thing we did this morning when we got up was go for a walk around the campground then onto the beach which was already a hub of activity. Our campground adjoins the Middle Beach Lodge, a serene oceanfront resort so we walked there to check it out. Afterwards we decided to head over to Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park to watch the surfers and enjoy the sun.

Long Beach is vast and seems even more so when the tide is out. We were there by 10:30 AM and already some regular surfers were done for the day. The die-hards were enjoying the bigger waves brought in by the stronger winds and the beginners were practicing in a sheltered area near a large rock island. First we walked for a couple of kilometres and back and then we parked ourselves on the two lawn chairs we brought to sit while we read and people watched. The day couldn't be better if we asked for it because it was sunny and clear and out of the wind it felt like it was 25C.

After a while, we drove into Ucluelet, another fishing village-turned-tourist-town, approximately 35 km. south of Tofino. We drove around for a while then stopped at Little Beach, a small beach in town where we observed dozens of large crab carcasses. We discovered that Ucluelet is undergoing some major development, as is Tofino, due to the influx of tourism and today's discovery of this paradise. We stopped at a café for lunch then headed back to the campground with an agenda to return there another day. There is a lot to see and do here and I have a feeling we will run out of time again!