Friday, June 10, 2016

Ucluelet and Tofino Weekend Away






Last weekend we had an absolutely fabulous weekend in Ucluelet and Tofino.  After a 3 hour drive on an extremely curvy highway (curviest I've seen in Canada with 18% grades and 30km per hour switchbacks) we arrived to our tiny little one room cabin on the waterfront in Ucluelet.  It was everything we had hoped for with a small bathroom, mini-kitchen, balcony and a place to launch our kayaks down below directly into the water.  It was raining so we just unpacked and settled in and relaxed with cocktails on the balcony.  Even in bad weather it was beautiful.  We instantly saw California sea lions swimming right out front and many fishing boats going by.   On Friday (hubby's birthday) we had a leisurely breakfast and waited for the weather to break - soon the rain stopped and the clouds lightened.  Our first adventure was to walk a 3 km portion of the the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet. There is a huge stretch of coastline with hiking right next to the ocean with many viewpoints and benches for resting and taking pictures.  We chose to do a 3km loop that included the lighthouse as Buddy can't go for much more than that due to his short little poodle legs.  It was gloriously beautiful, as these pictures show.



By Friday evening the clouds were gone and the sun was shining and we were blessed with lovely weather for the rest of the weekend.  On Saturday morning we drove to Tofino and visited one of the top 10 beaches in the world, Chesterman Beach.  This area is known for its wide sand beaches and amazing waves for surfing.  We enjoyed walking in the sand and watching those that were challenging the waves.  The bit below that looks like fog is water spray.




We managed to go kayaking twice, once on Friday and once on Saturday.   The original plan was to leave Buddy in the cabin in his kennel while we went kayaking.  He proceeded to bark and whine so loud I was afraid he was going to disturb others at the B&B(we definitely still need to work on a few things with him).  We got in the truck, drove to the one little pet store in Ucluelet and bought a dog life jacket and harness  to affix it to hubby's life jacket.  Anyone on Vancouver Island has seen people kayaking and paddle boarding with their pooches, why shouldn't we?  My biggest fear was that he would try and jump out.  Our first attempt we only went for 1/2 hr and stayed within 10 feet of the shore.  We still got to see a lot and Buddy got used to the whole idea.  On Saturday we took him on a 1.5 hour kayak and got to see a lot of wildlife including up close and personal with a lounging sea lion on the fishing cannery dock.  We also had one sea lion surface right behind hubby's kayak which made me nervous but they were just curious and Buddy didn't make a peep.  He also eventually laid down in hubby's lap and seems to really like the whole kayak thing as got excited when we pulled out the dog life jacket the second time.
Buddy's first kayaking adventure

California Sea Lion

Sea lion right in front of cabin

view from cabin

large starfish


The very short 2 second movie above was an accident, I was trying to take an underwater shot of this spider crab on a piece of seaweed.  I sure love my Canon Powershot D30 that hubby got me for my birthday last year - best underwater camera that I have tried and this one can actually be used for diving if I take that up.  I am still getting used to it though so hopefully these kind of shots will improve.

We had a lovely weekend but have been running ever since we got home getting ready to deliver a large contract and dealing with family issues.   My Mom had a medical episode on Monday and couldn't walk suffering from extreme vertigo.  I took her to the Dr who ordered a CT scan which I will take her to tomorrow.  Hopefully it is just an inner ear thing and not something more serious but the Dr does not want her to drive until it is sorted.  She is able to walk now that she got some medication and is more able bodied after a couple of days being immobilized.

We also have some friends from Alberta arriving for supper/an overnight visit later today so yesterday I cleaned the house from top to bottom.  It needed it badly and hadn't been cleaned that well since before we went to Spain - just no time to do so.  These friends coming forced my hand and I managed to clock 11,500 steps on my fitbit yesterday just from housework.  No, I don't want that to become a regular thing, much prefer fun walks by the ocean to increase my calorie burning.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

20 comments:

  1. Looks like a fun weekend and so pretty. Hopefully in September we will have a two week holiday on the Island and do some exploring with an eye on relocating there... Happy birthday to hubby!

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    1. Peter you will love it. We are still exploring a bit more every year since we moved here 4 years ago. We rarely go off island except to fly away some where, everything we need is here.

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  2. What beautiful pictures of a very beautiful place!

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    1. You are right, Vancouver Island is so beautiful. That side of the island is quite a bit different than the side I live on though, so many neat places to explore

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  3. This looks idyllic and I love that Buddy enjoyed kayaking. More fun for you.

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    1. Definitely more fun for us as we really wanted to get some kayaking in.

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  4. What a great weekend! I love that side of the island. Back in the spring of 1980 I did the West Coast Trail which was fantastic and I would love to do it again. I haven't heard of the Wild Pacific Trail so I guess we had better make it to the island someday soon so we can check it out, your pictures of the scenery there make it look fantastic.

    So glad that Buddy enjoyed his kayaking adventure and hopefully he will see many more.

    Nothing like having visitors to make us clean the house! :-)

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. The wild pacific trail goes from Ucluelet to where the beaches of Tofino start and there are several access points. Lots of beautiful hiking (mostly extremely easy hiking for the average tourist too)

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  5. That beach and the surrounding areas look absolutely stunning, what a lovely place to spend a weekend away.
    Buddy on his boat is hilarious! xxx

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    1. He only barked at one bird, fortunately behaved himself the rest of the time. I am really sure he thought it was pretty cool, especially the second time round. He must trust us.

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  6. Wow, what an adventure you all had. Even Buddy! I just love that view from your cabin. Looks so peaceful. There's something about looking at or being near water that just melts all the stress away. I hope your mom will be okay. I've had vertigo for 15 or 16 years. It comes back, then goes away, then comes back again, but it's rarely as bad as the very first time I had it.

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  7. So glad your special weekend worked out so well. Cute that Buddy insisted on joining you out on the ocean.

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    1. He didn't have a choice since he refused to be quiet :) Glad it worked out though as we were both doubtful about the whole thing.

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  8. I love that Buddy enjoyed the kayaking. How cool is that!!!!! And it was even cuter that you said his little poodle legs.
    Ok I am not a doctor by any stretch of the means but you know that my kids have more often than not called me a witch doctor so let me thrwo out an idea to try on your mom. My friend had this and she would tip her head to the side 5-10 times slowly and it would recenter the crystals in her ear. Just a thought and maybe an easy way ot help her.

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    1. I will give Mom that tip, things seem to be much better now a week later, thank goodness.

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  9. Tofino is such a fun place to visit - but like you said, what a road to get there. I swore the last time that we would fly in next time! Great that you had such a fun trip and thanks for sharing!

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    1. You have that right! I would hate to drive anything bigger than our old small ford ranger on that drive.

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  10. How great to be able to include Buddy in your activities! I would love to be able to pop Luna or Lily into my backpack when I bike. I have put a leash and collar on them once and they did seem to enjoy seeing more of the world. That is such a beautiful place - I had to look on a map to see where you were!

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    1. He is like the 4th kid, the one who doesn't ask to borrow the car or get into trouble with the cops (so far lol) so we wanted to as much with him as possible. We all had a great time.

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  11. What a great trip and you lucked out with the weather. We postponed our camping trip with our quads to Whistler. At no charge they changed our reservation to this coming week and it looks like the weather will be sunny and warm vs. cloudy and rainy. No fun staying in a tent and riding quads in the rain. - Margy

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