From Tofino to Victoria

Monday, June 17, 2013

Tofino, British Columbia, Canada

There were hours during our week-long stay with Jim and Mary just outside Tofino, when it didn't rain

. Oftentimes, the sun even showed itself. Tofino is a beautifully rugged little spot on the western side of Vancouver Island where the road ends, about a three-hour drive from Nanaimo's ferry landing.

Each night in the house we rented, we dined on either wild Pacific salmon, oysters or prawns. Had we known the price though, we'd have brought our own seafood from Bill's Lobster on Gerrard Street, just a five minute walk from where we live in Toronto. As the story goes, the few fish markets that exist in Tofino are for tourists only. Locals buy their seafood right from the fishermen. So a word of caution: when entering a fish market bring your own vaseline. It's going to hurt.

For the hearty, Tofino is a great place to search for bears, whales and bald eagles. For Elenka and I though, it's a little too windy some of the time and a touch too cold and rainy most of the time. That, and you can't go into the sea without a wetsuit any of the time.

The tiny treasure of Victoria, British Columbia's capital, is a four hour drive from Tofino. Here there is a village of boat houses (called float homes), a magnificent old hotel called the Empress, and a majestic parliament building that sits not 30 metres from the hotel where we stayed. And it's all right on a harbour that isn't at all unsightly, like our own waterfront in Toronto.

Who'da thunk that Canada could be such a beautiful place.