Tofino, Vancouver Island

It was great to escape the city and head to the west coast of Vancouver Island, the 5 hour bus journey took me through some stunning scenery and gave me a taste of what was to come in Tofino.

I arrived mid-afternoon and found Whalers Guesthouse, a YHA affiliated hostel with an amazing location over-looking the harbour. I went off to explore the small picturesque town and booked a day trip to the Hot Springs for tomorrow, I had considered another whale watching trip but decided against it!

I was very relieved that I did, as 10 minutes later I stood on the harbour and watched 2 whales swim through the middle! It was an incredible sight and was completely free!

Back in my room, I met Hannah from Dublin. We were both very excited about the whales and decided a celebratory drink was in order, any excuse!

Hannah also managed to get booked on the trip to Hot Springs Cove so at 9am the next morning we boarded our boat and took the 2 hour boat trip, along the way we saw more eagles, stunning scenery and, you guessed another whale! So we arrived at Hot Springs Cove and walked the 2km trail through the forest and found the hot springs. They were maybe 3m from the freezing cold sea water so we doubted the definition of Hot Springs but were amazed when we were almost scalded by the hot water pools! 2 hours later, hot and wrinkly we headed back to the boat! Once again, on our return journey we saw a whale, it was still very exciting to see and something I could watch for hours.

Back in Tofino Hannah and I walked for an hour out of town to find a roadside shack that apparently sold the towns best fish and chips, we were very impressed!

In order to walk it off we thought we’d take the long route back along the beach. Unfortunately we only made it 100m along the beach before we found Pointe Bar and Restaurant. Situated on the rocks overlooking the beach, it was too perfect to miss so we found ourselves in a very swanky bar drinking fine wine, sat by the fire taking in the views,. It was a lovely evening even if we did then have to walk for an hour in the rain to get back!

Tofino is a lovely town and I wish I had spent more time here and less in the city but it was already time to move on.

Unfortunately you cannot get from Tofino to Port Hardy in one day so I had to stay overnight in Port Alberni, a very small little town with little to see so I won’t bore you with the details!