Tofino Time

Tony and I celebrated our September First anniversary by taking in some Tofino Time. Tofino Time involves slowing down, not wearing watches nor looking at clocks nor newspapers nor listening to the radio. Compact discs are allowed. Gazing at sunsets and walking the beaches with Cal early mornings are mandatory. Shooting the breeze with folks from around the world. Many dog lovers on this stretch of west coast ambience. Tofino is Canada's Key West Florida without the flamboyance, only the laid-backness that living on the ocean's edge offers.

We arrived here after a six hour drive, road construction caused some delay enroute. We passed over The Malahat onto green rolling farmlands, the Cowichan Valley, through island towns like Duncan, Ladysmith and Nanaimo before heading west to Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove, Port Alberni and the very large Cameron Lake with mountains on both sides.

Rushing streams and creeks with potholes dotted the countryside on our final 58 kilometres.Curvy mountain roads and a portion of road construction I mentioned earlier. Slowing down process began here, slowing down to realise Tofino Time was just around the corner.

Twelve kilometres later, the pace picked up again and Ucluelet was indicated as the road to the south, and we took the road to Tofino and Long Beach, heading north. Soon warnings of watching for and not feeding wildlife appeared and we knew we were close when we reached Long Beach, stretching out before us with miles and miles of relatively untamed beaches, surfer's paradise, Canada style. We arrived at Crystal Cove Resort where our campground was situated among cedar trees, whiskeyjacks, crows and log cabins. Crystal Cove and McKenzie Beaches are sandy, tree-lined with rock island-laden vistas.

Colourful sunsets abounding, clouds taking them up a notch into spectacular. A fly fisherman waist-deep in its waters casting in a Zen-like way. A canoe heading out. Kids skimming boards near shore. Rock climbers exploring the tidepools. Shell collectors, dog walkers, talkers.Families, young couples, many young children and babies. Bicycles, strollers, bachi ball players and sand castle builders. Avid photographers making the few glorious moments stay with them much longer. Just another day in paradise. Life's a beach.

Breakfasts at camp are the best. Bbq dinners wonderful. Desserts in Tofino are divine, as the bakeries and coffee shoppes see to this. The Co-Op Grocery store is a gathering place, by a four corner stop intersection. The four stop signs are new to this laid-back two street town now feeling a bit of the "total gridlock" irony. The harbourfront down the street is a world-class view. Boats heading out fishing or whale-watching, kayaks, sea planes, and helicopters. The greenery of Meares Island and Clayoquot Sound beckon. A small native village can be seen across the bay.

We had a bit of rain one night and one day but it soon disappeared. The weather replacing it was warm and we went to Chesterman Beach to look for surfers and beach birds. What we learned is there are an incredible number of folks taking up surfing for the first time and many surfing schools out here. The now famous one is "Surf Sister" for females and male-friendly too. The girls and women are getting great at the sport.

Met a friend from Victoria on Chesterman Beach as the tide started to cross over between two huge beaches there and between us and Frank Island. We scurried back and exchanged news of her daughter Sarah's musical summer, she is an awesome singer and getting famous and on stages with Stacey Earle and Jane Siberry and we talked of Tony's run-in with a hot barbeque lid. Louise offered Tony aloe vera and another healing ointment. Tony's hands will not blister, luckily.

This was our anniversary, Thursday September the First. It took us till noon to realise this, as we were on Tofino Time now, obviously. We ate a pizza supper in town at a waterside park to celebrate.

The following day, Long Beach was awesome. White sands sprinkled only with a handful of morning daytrippers and surfers and a mist rising from new heat hitting cooler land. I took off my sandals and wandered the beach with Cal. Misty distance with surfers warming up with land stretches. The Pacific Ocean felt warm, surprising me. Sometimes it can feel mighty numbing. Picture-takers, surf-watchers, surfers, kids frolicking in the water near shore. It felt great. It looked incredible. Only the sound of the surf broke the silence except for a few little ones' laughter.

One thing that gets Cal in the water is searching for bullheads, tiny fish, and he did this several times at McKenzie Beach towards sunset. He also befriended a lot of people and dogs, as he always does. Cal loves camping, loves the outdoors and the beach time. We agree.

One sunshiny morning, I saw a rainbow in a cloud over a rock outcropping. Beautiful. The tides brought snail "cave drawings" in the wet sand, sea stars, sand dollars and shells. The clouds reflected wonderfully in the wet sand.

Went to Tofino where The Third of September was happening, a very groovy large new skateboard park and competition to celebrate its completion, a market and salmon bbq and musical entertainment in the village green. Later tonight, "Buckwheat Zydeco" would be shaking everyone's booty at The Legion in town. Tony and I got fish 'n' chips and ate them down at the waterside park again. A guitar-strumming singer and his harmonica and flute playing friend seemed to serenade us from a bench nearby. Tofino Time, we just loved it.

Sunday was our leaving day. Just after passing through the twelve kilometres of road construction and while listening to Neal Casal sing "All The Luck in the World," we heard a hissing truck tire and pulled over to find a stone wedged into it. It wasn't easy to change the tire nor get the new one out from under the truck where it sat but Tony managed and we felt lucky the blowout occured where it did, on a straightaway, not on the winding mountainous road we had just travelled.

We would discover later on The Malahat, that some unfortunate motor home had ended up in the ditch, delaying many of us for over an hour. We eventually realised we weren't moving anywheres for a while, while none of us knew what had happened at the time, but we began to open our vehicle doors and walk on the road and socialise, something you cannot do too often on The Malahat. By the time we were moving again, all signs of the mishap and its rescuers were gone.

We got home early afternoon, unpacked the camper, and settled in for a nice relaxing evening.

Tofino Time is an end of summer moment we will enJOY reminiscing on as Fall weather moves in and the days get shorter.