Waking in Nanaimo, we headed straight to Tofino, Canada’s surfing capital. Woah, we didn’t realize that crossing to the other side of the island was going to be SO winding and SO slow. Having finally made it to the other side though, Karl sure was in his element as we splashed in the frigid water and laughed at the silly girl in a bikini with no sun in the sky. Lots of surfers here and nice to get some sand between our toes.

Having grown up in England, Karl finds it strange that I don’t identify more with the ocean as opposed to a lake. For me, I much prefer warm weather + lake than cold weather + ocean, like what we experienced today.
We spent the afternoon playing frisbee, napping on our rug in the sand and checking out the nice little stores in Tofino. The town here reminds me of Byron Bay, the town in Australia that I lived in with my friend Lindsay while touring that country. A very laid back feel and a no pressure attitude from the residents. We bought some art from a nice young girl at a market. (pics to come!)
Having left our lodging details much too late in the day for a weekend, Karl & I found ourselves without a campsite for the night. Having called every place we could find, we finally got to the bottom of the list and luckily found somewhere that had room for us – Mussel Beach. We ended up getting just a little bit nervous when our short drive became a slow and bumpy journey across an 8km, seemingly barely manicured driveway into the campsite. WOW, it was worth it! The friendly family owned business greeted us with smiles and let us choose from lots of gorgeous sites. Ours overlooked the ocean, with a fence of driftwood. A quick look at the rocky path to the water greeted us with hundreds of tiny crabs, hermit crabs and tiny fish. We later learned that the tide would come up and cover this section of land only hours later.

The next morning, Karl found a real masterpiece and was so excited to show me that I couldn’t even guess what the surprise was. He brought me out to the again walkable ocean floor to an area covered with hundreds of multicoloured starfish. Aaakkk!!! I wanted to take one home they’re so cute but opted to save a life and the smell in our car, so left the creatures alone.

We spent that afternoon hunting for shells & driftwood, watching whales, and lounging around the campsite … the first time we’ve really RELAXED this whole vaycay. One more night in Mussel Beach then we’re starting our journey back home. I can’t believe we’re as far west as we can go!! Now we’re east-bound!!

Popularity: 4% [?]