24 Hours in Tofino

I was on the island for work, so Leonard and I decided to head over to Tofino afterwards. The drive from Courtenay to Tofino was incredibly foggy, but it cleared up as we hit the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Once we arrived, we were eager to get to the beaches, so we headed to the #1 rated attraction on tripadvisor: Chesterman Beach. The beach was flat and glassy, and the fog was so thick that I couldn't see very far in front of me. 

  

The skies were clear and blue in the town, however.

We went to Tonquin Beach at the end of our walk around the town and were pleasantly surprised to see that the fog had left the beach.

Then we drove down to Cox Bay for the sunset. I was so intent on taking photos of these dogs that I didn't see a wave coming and I ended up with wet, cold feet.

The next morning, we went to the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and walked through the forest to get to the beach.  The trees were giant!

The trail ended up at Schooner Cove, which was stunning in a beautifully quiet way.

Mid-island, we stopped at Cathedral Grove, which was also very impressive with its massive trees. One of the trees is (much) taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

We were way ahead of schedule, so we were able to squeeze in a bonus before boarding the ferry - Englishman River Falls, near Nanaimo.

We even had time for a carwash, as my car was filthy after the 500km of driving.

All in all, it felt like a real vacation even though it was only for two days. Tofino was pretty great!