Beautiful Tofino

Monday morning is sunny.  We eat a quick breakfast then make our way to Ocean Outfitters for our 2 1/2 hour whale watching tour. Fellow passengers on the 13 passenger boat include a couple who own a vineyard north of Victoria, a young Italian woman seeing Canada, a family from Spain and a group of friends from Germany.  The grey whales are moving from Baja to Alaska and we are all hoping to spot a few.

We learn that the greys have a typical pattern of spouting water, surfacing, then diving for 5-8 minutes.  After exiting the harbor we travel out for about 20 minutes before hearing from another boat of a sighting.  The captain increases our speed until he comes 400 yards from the other boat, then takes it down to a very slow speed.  We all scan the horizon then see a small spout in the distance and the back of a whale for a few seconds.  We wait another 15 minutes without a sighting. So much for the typical pattern.  Then we are off to another sighting.  This time there are some "typical" grey whales.  We have fun seeing them spout, surface, and even catch the tales breaching the water.

The captain asks if we'd like to see some sea lions / seals and everyone agrees.  He takes us toward a protected island.  There's a group of stellar sea lions, the largest of the seal family, sunning themselves on the banks.  They have a distinctive low growl.  The other seals in the surrounding waters are typical harbor seals. On our ride back toward Tofino Harbor we spot an eagle circling then perching in a tree - so graceful!

In the afternoon we take a walk along Chesterman Beach.  There's a few surfers in the moderate waves.  The summer homes spaced along the beach are attractive, it would be fun to stay at one if they are rented out.

It's low tide so there's a wide beach and we can walk all the way out to Frank Island.  On the way back I notice a barefoot couple in jackets walking on the beach framed by the trees and snow-capped mountains in the distance.  A perfect image of early Spring in Tofino.