Wild Adventures: Our first 36 Hours in Canada. Happy faces all around!

The day for us to leave the UK and depart for our Canadian adventure finally came on September 7th and so here is our first blog of what we hope will be an action packed 2.5 weeks of wildlife and wilderness adventures. If the start of is anything to go by I don’t think we will be disappointed and so far Canada is exceeding our expectations in many ways!

This is not our first trip to Canada, having been here approximately 4 years ago whilst snowboarding in Banff but it is our first time to British Columbia and to we looked forward to seeing some of the Canadian wilderness without being shrouded by a a blanket of snow.

The morning after we landed in Vancouver we were straight on the early ferry to Vancouver island, where we are spending around 8 days focusing on Whales and Bears across 3 different areas of the island, starting with three days in Tofino, a small town located on the west of the island and nestled amongst stunning tree covered mountain peaks.

Of course we had ‘googled’ before we left about the areas we were visiting but nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared us for the spectacular scenery that unfolded as soon as we arrived in the island and so far has continued way beyond what we ever imagined. Traveling along the highway from the ferry immense forests dominated everywhere we turned, impressive mountain peaks covered with a dense blanket of green, and some still with a small covering of ice and snow that clearly never melted. Everything in Canada was big! The mountains, the trees and not to mention huge great gas guzzling trucks!. As we traveled further west the roads became windy, the scenery became more and more spectacular as we passed crystal clear lakes and thick forest with huge Douglas Fir trees. Huge great granite boulders that jutted out from the mountains and lay strewn along the many many creeks we passed over. It was clear that the 3.5 hour journey to Tofino was going to take considerably longer as we could not help by stop of the roadside and take in the awe that was the Canadian wilderness, including places such as Cathedral Grove Provincial Park.

Eventually we arrived in Tofino, tired but excited about our next few days ahead. Our self catered studio accommodation was just perfect, located right at the waters edge with more amazing views that you just could never get tired of. Already, less than 24 hours in BC we were in love with this place!

We had some time in the afternoon to investigate the area more and spent some time along the Pacific Rim National park. We headed straight for the beach, knowing it was a known surf spot we also wanted to check out if there were any clean ‘barrels’ to be had!

To see the temperate rain forest come right to the edge of the ocean was just fascinating and it felt like a scene from prehistoric times with huge ferns and trees that seemed to be never ending in height. There was something truly mystical about this area. The surf was ‘up’ but rather messy so we were in no desperate rush to go and hire boards and jump on a wave. Driftwood covered the coastline as far as the eye could see on every beach we stopped at. It felt like every piece of wood had a story to tell. All different shapes, sizes and textures moulded by the power of the Pacific Ocean. I (Sarah) especially seem to have become obsessed with driftwood, come to Tofino and you will see what I mean!!

Added to this amazing scenery was the fact that we were now well and truly in Bear territory, but not only bears as we soon found out. Signs dominated the parking areas warning that Wolf and Cougar sightings were on the increase. Ok, so now we were well and truly in predator heaven!!!

Our first adventure was to hopefully see Gray Whales, that could have consisted of either migrating whales or some of the resident population. We boarded a 12 passenger Zodiac with comfy seats for what was to be a trilling ride (as we were sat at the front of the zodiac, the bumpiest and most exhilarating place to sit!!) We travelled up the Clayoquot sound for a considerable distance, concentrating hard all around for the tell tale spout of water from a blowhole that would pinpoint the location of the our target mammal for the morning. Over 1.5 hours and still no luck, the swell was picking up and ride becoming bumpier with each minute that passed. Our guide was clearly getting a little anxious, keen to find some whales. As we started to accept that today was not going to be our day for spotting a whale we had ‘word’ that a Humpback Whale and her calf had been sighted. Our guide ‘hot footed’ to the area where they had been seen, still with no guarantee that we would see them. Then in the distance we saw several boats, they must still be in sight. By now the swell was gathering momentum, making it hard to see what was over the next crested peak. We arrived to where the Whales were and there she was, mother and calf. It was impossible for photography and almost impossible to see them over the undulating sea, but wow what a sight as she slowly glided under the surface, occasionally revealing her location with a spout of water from her blow hole, and every now and then revealing her immense size with a glimpse of her back as her calf followed closely. We stayed only 15 minutes or so with the Whale before we had to head back, pleased at least that we had seen a whale, even if it had not been the species we had expected to see. Any sighting of any animal in the wild especially a whale in such a huge area is a privilege. On the way back we also saw two large bald eagles nestled high upon a tall Douglas Fir, simply stunning!

We arrived back to the dock at 1pm feeling like we had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson after being hurled around in the front of the Zodiac! As we arrived back to our apartment we then found out that whilst out on the ocean at 12:41pm Vancouver Island (VI) had suffered an earthquake, just a little further north from our location. Reaching 6.4 magnitude it was by no means a small quake but fortunately not enough to cause any structural damage, the quake was felt all across Tofino, the whole of VI and also on the mainland. As we had been out in the ocean we were shielded from feeling the effects and there was no Tsumani warning in effect as the epicenter of the quake was technically very shallow, just 25km down (Along the Pacific Rim we are in the ‘Tsunami Zone’ evident by the many signs showing evacuation routes).

So that was the end of our first morning in Tofino......time to ‘regroup’ ready for our first bear watching adventure later that afternoon.

Little did we know it was not just bears we were going to see! Check back later for our next update later today/tomorrow of what we saw!

The view from the Ferry leaving Mainland BC and toward Vancouver Island