Tofino during winter! (Vancouver Island) | Pacific Rim National Park, surfing in Canada, Cox Bay

Well we're heading off to Tofino today and it's snowing! It does not snow on Vancouver Island and the one day or the one weekend that we chose to go to Tofino, it's snowing. So we're going for a long weekend and it should be very interesting in Tofino with this snow. So come along and join us. Tofino is located on Vancouver Island and faces the Pacific Ocean and is best known for its surfing, numerous beaches, storm watching, top-notch restaurants, don't miss the coffee shop Rhino, a local favorite, and for the more adventurous the starting point for the West Coast Trail at the National Rim Park Reserve. When you ask a Canadian is it possible to surf in Canada, the place they'll point you to is Tofino. So the first stop in Tofino is Tonquin Beach. Tonquin Beach is a beach and a trail and it's right in town, less than one kilometer from the village center. The gravel trail starts at the Tofino Community Hall winding through rainforest to Tonquin Beach, Third Beach, and Middle Beach. Along the way there are many points of interest and ocean view opportunities. The trail is a closed-loop trail of about three kilometers and we recommend that you visit it at low tide to take full advantage of enjoying the whole beach. We are in Tofino and we're in Tonquin Beach and this is just one of the To get to Tofino you can fly into Tofino as there is a airport located in the town or you can take a scenic ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo from Vancouver followed by a three-hour drive through the stunning Pacific Rim National Park. While getting there does take some effort we can assure you a visit to Tofino is worth it. Welcome to day two of Tofino. What are we up to today? The top things of must to do Tofino which is lighthouses, coffee, more coffee, and surfing. Okay so that's we're gonna do make sure if you're visiting Tofino some of these are some of the places that you should visit. Rain, rain, rain, rain. Is this all we're having all day long? Yeah. There'll be some breaks this afternoon about three. Okay. Oh my goodness. How's the spirits? Right now it says that it's not raining at all but it is. It's because it's snowing. Oh because we're in Ucluelet. Oh don't get me started on that name. I did that on purpose. We're not in Tofino. Okay how would you say this name? U-clu-let. Ucluelet. Ule-let? Oh my god. Just the way it's spelled. It's not that hard. I can't say it. I'm not gonna say it. I'm just gonna see something wrong. Our morning hike on Tofino at Lighthouse Trail. Stay warm while you're with us and we'll try and keep warm. Oh wow the ocean looks a little crazy today. Not the same as yesterday. So the weather isn't necessarily working for us today. Or probably for the rest of the weekend. But what are you gonna do? You're in Tofino. You gotta do Tofino. Today is a day where I would rather stay in a room and watch the ocean through a window than be out here in this weather. 26 1905. This huge sailing ship struck the jagged reefs right in front of you. What you are seeing here is quite unique. Tofino hardly gets any snow during winter and while it was cold and muggy for us, we still had a great time. We live in an urban society where we avoid nature and out here it's something you just embrace. Between October and April Tofino's main attraction is storm watching. Talk to a local Tofinoite or a seasoned tourist and you'll see their eyes get wide with anticipation. There's a seal. Where are you seeing a seal. They're in the water bobbing around their heads. There's a bunch of them there now. Yeah I see them now. Wow. There's more seals. So it is quite cold. Oh dear the lenses. Gotta fix the lens. We're out in the freezing cold on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Tofino is known to be part of the graveyard of shipwrecks that reaches down from northern Vancouver Island to Oregon USA. The most tragic Canadian shipwreck was the Valencia that lost 136 people during a storm. As protection against further catastrophes, the Canadian government took an overgrown telegraph route and transformed it into a life-saving trail for shipwreck mariners. Found in the Pacific Rim National Park, it is now known as the West Coast Trail. For the adventurous, you can do the 75 kilometre multi-day hike during the summer. Just fair warning, don't come ill-prepared. Awesome. Oh my goodness. That's the cheese here. That's interesting. Same temperature now. Yeah it's probably the same. Much as why they go right now. Very. This is Cox Beach where you have one of the swankiest hotels in town called Pacific Sands Beach and Long Beach Resort. If surfing isn't your thing, then I'm sure coffee and desserts or even dinner would be, especially during winter. Tofino is still one of those kind of places where you can come to escape the rat race but still get a legit cup of coffee. We had heard stories that Tofino was a surf town but we wanted to see it ourselves. It should have not come to us as a surprise that the de facto surf capital of Canada had a bunch of surfers in the water, including children. If you had never surfed, don't worry. Tofino and its sister town, Ucluelet, got you covered with a ton of surfing options. If you want to try the waves in the winter, you can only stay in the water tops an hour and even in the summer, max 3. The water is just this cold here. It's really the Canadian surfing capital, I could say. Everybody hands out here and it's really international because you have people from around the world who come here and they work here like the guys up front are probably from Quebec and we just got served yesterday by a guy from the UK so it's one of these towns that people come and conjugate, I guess. In one weekend, it's hard to cover it all but if you're going to do another hike, don't miss out on the Rainforest Hike in the Pacific Rim National Reserve to see Vancouver Island's old growth forest featuring giants like this one that are over 2,000 years old. Other things we didn't get a chance to do in Tofino, well, because it was also winter, was whale watching with Tofino Botanical Gardens and going to Muir's Island to experience wild hot springs. That was close to the pandemic at the time and required us to take a This is so Vancouver Island, so Tofino. These crashing waves, this water. This is what I imagined Vancouver Island to be like. Okay, Kate, what is it about Long Beach? Let's do an interview. It is the most spectacular beach in all of Canada and then it's a rival for world-class beaches. Though our temperatures are certainly not as warm as the ones in Australia or Hawaii, well, not in the wintertime anyways, but surfing in the wintertime, I still can't get over that. I'm standing out here and I'm a wee bit chilly. I can't imagine wanting to get into the water. So, the longest, they say five kilometers, but then they say, well, actually, it's really over 15 kilometers. When the tide is out, all of these other beaches all connect. So, it's over 15 kilometers of beach and look at the width of it. It's like frickin' incredible. It's like Miami Beach. Tofino is situated in the traditional territory of Ha'olesi and the Ta'okli'at First Nation of the Nuu-chah-luu people have called the area home for over 5,000 years. Life in this part of the coast is underpinned by the ancient teachings that says, from the ocean and forest to all living creatures who call this place home, everything is connected. When you visit, you know you will become a part of this greater connection too. A visit without heading to Roy Victor's gallery in Tofino is simply incomplete. Roy Henry Vickers is one of Canada's most successful, renowned First Nation artists. He's perhaps known for his limited edition prints, which are characterized by bold, often primary colors and inspired by First Nations imagery of animals, nature and spiritual symbols. You can take a piece of Canada and Tofino with you by visiting their art gallery. And then, your visit to Tofino is complete.