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Looks like beach break with a couple options, stoked to check it out, anyone been?
Headed to Vancouver Island and just managed to get reservations for 3 nights in mid August, otherwise pretty booked up. We're looking for camping/lodging options for the family. Driving up in the Westy, any recommendations for lodging or camping near surf?
Stay at the Wickaninnish Inn ;) Great surf right there.
Looks awesome, they're booked solid. Like pretty much everywhere else. I forgot that you have to plan in advance in Tofino...Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
Sounds like you know enough already. Pretty good fishing right from shore. We stayed at Long Beach Lodge, great place.
If you want to explore, you can water taxi to Hot Springs Cove, camping is plenty, hot springs are amazing, and you can stay with the Innchanter. He runs a tight ship.
http://www.innchanter.com
We ended up scoring reservations on Cox Bay; Pacific Sands for a couple nights and Cox Bay Resort for several nights. This camping trip is turning into lodge based but it's hard to pass up beach side lodging, plus we just gotta get out of FarNorCal, we are surrounded by fire and smoke...
Just got back 2 days ago. Long closeouts. Didn’t get up to Cox, just LB and Flo, but both had “waves” Cox is a shit fight but is a wave magnet w/ strong rip. Long beach and flow have more peelers at this time of year.
long beach for hangs and surf is legit, my recommendation is to pack the westy with your chairs and lunch and get to the incinerator parking lot early!!! for a good beach side spot. Long beach can be walked for miles in either direction from there.
A bag of Dayold goodies from common loaf in tuff for $7.50 is damn good.
Two scoops of gelato in a waffle cone for $5 in ukee.
The restaurants are good but I don’t eat out there enough so can’t make a recommendation, I almost always cook on the beach if the weather works.
Kelp beer from tofino brewing is very tasty.
If you get a chance, the fishing is on right now so chartering would be a good way to see it all, probably a dose of whales as well. Ukee is a good spot for your travel arrangements ie fishing or boat tours.
If you kayak, the broken islands are amazing.
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GF and I are going to chill in Tofino for a couple days early April at the tail end of a Whistler trip. We're not surfers (yet) mostly thought it looks like a cool place to hang for a couple days, we're from Maine so the place looks awesome to us.
Looks like beach cruising, eating out and general chillaxing is our agenda.
BUMP. Some good info above but 5-6 years out of date now.
We just booked an airbnb in Victoria for the month of July. Escaping the SLC heat for the most part and working up there, but will be bringing MTBs and surfboards. Likely will drive our van to use as the sole vehicle while we're on the island.
Sounds like surf will be small and gets blown out in summer, but that's totally fine for what I'll be looking for. Probably the only time I'll have been in the water since last fall, so almost a year. Plan is to bring my 9' long board and the shortboard too, unless that's completely unnecessary for July surf there.
I have a 3/2 and a 4/3 but know I'll need a new wetsuit and booties, gloves, hood. What thickness should I be looking at? I get cold pretty easily and am used to San Diego ocean temps.
Anything else to know? Any free camping or do we need to book something ahead of time? Best sites to look at for swell forecasting in the region? Must go coffee shops, breweries, restaurants?
I’ll chime in on this one, my boys and I spend a week there (Tofino) every July for several years running now. The swell can definitely still have some good size there even in the summer so bring shortboard for sure. There are a variety of spots that can be working depending on size and direction of swell but I’ve yet to see it too small to go out anywhere and we’ve often found ourselves seeking the less exposed spots closer to town when it gets too messy at the more exposed spots.
Having said all that, I think the most consistent summer spots are the long beach area and Cox bay. Cox bay has (spendy) camping close by and long beach has a couple options as well. They will all need to be reserved way ahead of time. Free camping is all but non existent once you get anywhere near the coastline. We usually camp at the long beach golf course and spend most of our days in the long beach stretch.
I use a hooded 5/4 front zip year round but you can definitely get away with 4/3 in summer, I wear boots/ gloves most of the time too but you see lotsa ppl in the water with neither. It has usually been pretty easy to find/ buy neoprene in town there so you could try the 4/3 and upgrade if you suffer?
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Thanks for the beta. Long Beach campground looks more like the price we'd be looking for vs the Cox Bay glamping situation. Annoying that reservations are needed ahead of time..hoping we'll be able to pull the trigger 1-2 weeks out on a reservation somewhere vs. booking it "now".Quote:
Originally Posted by p.blz