We start our time in Vancouver Island after a night boon docking by starting the drive across the island to Uclulet. Em edit - we wake up to sound of pickle all and a meadow of wildflowers which is beautiful but it's a very sad day. Our pusscat honey has been poorly for a while and sadly had to be put down - the lovely people looking after her gave her much love and cuddles and did their best for her but sadly it was her time to go - many tears today. This is the first really tough moment being away from home for so long and felt so sad we weren't able to be there. RIP honeybun you will be missed - go chase giant mouses in the sky.
Many people have warned us about Highway 4 which goes across the middle of the island, but other than seeing a massive queue on the other side due to road works, I don’t think its that bad (not in comparison to Devon anyway). At lunch we stop at the Taylor River Rest area and are pleasantly surprised by the beautiful clear blue/green waters! I thought I had seen something similar on TikTok - turns out it was actually the place I had seen. Of course we have to have a very very cold swim and play with our new water guns and refillable water balloons (which are revolutionary by the way).
It is quite a steep and slippy walk down to the river and I fall into the river, taking alex with me, and accidentally get some dirt in his eye - Dr Court mode kicks in. After de-dirting Alex’s eye (with the water pistol) and our feet, we continue on to our destination of Uclulet.
We arrive at Uclulet campsite and set up Wendy as we are here for a couple of nights. After setting up we decide to go for a little wander around the cute village, and are treated to a Mummy Otter and her babies swimming around the Marina below us!
Alex loves chatting to the men in the fishing shop and discover that it is squid fishing season, and the best time to go is at night! Obtaining the correct lure to catch the squids, now we just need the motivation to go down to the dock at 11pm to catch them….. We have a little go at catching some fish down at the Whiskey dock but have no luck, so decide to continue our wander and then head back to the van. Unfortunately we’re all too tired to go squid fishing, especially after a lovely hot shower which we all desperately need….
Our first proper day in Uclulet starts with a nice chilled morning deciding which whale watching we want to do and where - we decide on a safari-type cruise from the marina on a yacht. We then take a wander down to ‘big beach’ in Uclulet, which is not quite what we envisioned. Expecting a nice big sandy beach, we are instead met with a rocky/craggy beach, great for finding little creatures in rock pools for Alex! We have a scramble over the rocks and an explore of the beach finds a shipwreck of apparently unknown origin - still pretty cool!
We spend some time just relaxing and exploring the little natural caves, with Alex finding some dead crabs and little fishies along the way. After this we decide to head back through the other side of the town back to the campsite as we want to visit Tofino today too. A lunch stop at Jiggers includes the best fish and chips we have ever had, yes even better than at home! We take the long way back so Em and I can nosy in the cute little shops, our favourite is the little gallery in the centre mall which has beautiful artwork we want to take with us. After our wander through Uclulet we drive up to Tofino, which we have read is a fantastic whale watching spot. We have a lovely walk through the little but extremely busy town, and even watch two float planes take off! The smell of the fisheries is quite vile but we get past that so we can admire the view. Our safari tomorrow has no guarantee of seeing whales, which we are all desperate to see, so we head off to The Whale Centre to talk with them about where is best to go and what they offer. Inside we are greeted by two lovely Brits (we really do get everywhere!!) who tell us they have been having a great statistic of seeing Grey whales at the moment further up the island from where we are going tomorrow. This paired with a chance to re-plan a trip for free if we don’t see any has us sold and we book on for a couple of days time.
On our way back from Tofino we stop on long beach at ignition rock, a beautiful sandy beach, but very cold pacific waters! We mess around on the beach for a while with our water guns and balloons, and watch the large number of surfers playing around on the waves. Its a lovely chill end to our afternoon and we set off back for Uclulet after.
Post dinner, Alex reminds us that it is squid fishing season and he is desperate to go as we were too tired yesterday. We set up his squid jigging rig, acquire some necessities (tinnies) en route and head down to Whiskey dock at around 10pm, where there are quite a few other fisher-people! It seems everyone including us has no clue what we’re doing, as no one catches anything, despite us seeing literal swarms of squids swimming and even jumping out around us! Nevertheless, we still have a lot of fun and end up chatting to the other people there of course.
The next morning we are up bright and early excited for our safari cruise, however it’s been delayed for an hour due to the weather! We’re very much hoping the mist and cloud will dissipate while we’re there otherwise we won’t see much. A chat with the owners later and we are off on the luxury boat where the owners live and allow people to use for the safari. We spot lots of animals including golden eagles, deer, and a mink within just the first half an hour on the boat. Our route is around the broken islands just off the coast of uclulet which is a beautiful natural habitat, and although it’s a bit rocky and some of us feel a bit queasy, we all are still enjoying the beautiful views! The tour are unlike most whale watching tours in that they have a set route to go and don’t chase whales, however we are super lucky that we encounter a humpback whale en route! It seems to be a travelling one as we see a few blows and a tail (amazing) before it disappears and we continue on our journey. Around the islands we see some sea lions which are mammoth in size sound and smell and get up close for a good look at them.
Lunch spot of the day is a little bay in the middle of the islands on the deck of the beautiful yacht, and we even get hummingbirds visiting us while we eat and Alex helps bring up the anchor.
After lunch we continue around the islands for a bit, and luckily the weather has improved slightly. On our route we come to some scattering of rocks and kelp and see what we at first think is a log, but oh no, it’s actually a sea otter! These super cute guys tie themselves to kelp to stop them floating too far away, and often hold hands with family members while sleeping to stop floating away from each other - how adorable. Our favourite is Otto, a big old otter who is completely unbothered by the boat and lets us up close to get a good look at him. There are many more floating around in the kelp forest, their camouflage is very good!
Continuing on we see more birds and keep a sharp eye out for more wildlife before we hear over the speaker that there is a bear on the shore. Using binoculars we can see a mummy black bear and her two babies - so cute!! Unfortunately after the bears our time on the boat comes to an end after a lovely day on the water doing our favourite pastime of wildlife spotting.
Back on dry land it’s time for dinner and we stop at the floathouse, a restaurant floating on the uclulet harbour. We have a lovely dinner and I nearly get refused for a hard lemonade (despite being 24 and a doctor) much to my amusement. Tummies full and adventures for the day done, I head back for a shower but Alex is determined to catch some squid so Dad Em and Alex head back to whiskey dock but no squid are to be found today (edit em but Alex does spot a huge purple ochre starfish he has a look at!). Back in Wendy we have a great snooze with lungs full of sea air.
Next morning we are up bright and early, excited for our whale watching! En route to Tofino we stop at the Rainforest in pacific rim National park to have a wander. We do a beautiful boardwalk trail through the temperate rainforest and learn lots about the trees and environment there. It really feels like we have stepped back into dinosaur times and it’s incredible to see the enormous ancient trees and other wildlife growing there.
We had intended to do the other loop of rainforest however the clock indicated it was time to head on to see some whales. Excitedly we head into the whale centre and don our very attractive mustang suits, with Alex in some adorable overalls, and head down to the boat.
We’re greeted by Jean-yves who has the most amazing moustache in the world, Em and I are very pleased to see this handsome man taking charge of the boat (sorry Lew and Dad). We venture out into the ocean on a speedy boat which feels quite like a rollercoaster and it’s lots of fun! It doesn’t take long until the first cry of ‘blow!!’ Is heard and we spot a grey whale just off to our right. This whale is known as Orange Crush due to the number of orange lice residing on her tail, and it is amazing to see her flip said tail up into the air for us to see. At the same time, we see another blow, that means two whales!! This one didn’t have as catchy a name and hence I can’t remember it, but we still love seeing them surfacing for some breathes. JY as we now call him has to drag us away from these majestic creatures, but with a promise that there’s far more to see than those two. He’s not wrong. Venturing a bit more into open water we swiftly see a blow and a tail, and then another….. and another!! It is verified whale soup out there and we are surrounded by 3-4 whales at once (we think we saw at least 7 during our one trip!). The neighbouring large vomit comet boat (big and susceptible to sea sickness) tells us a terrible dad joke over the speakers while we are all searching for the next sight of a blow. Quickly we see one, just off the bow! It’s a grey whale called Admiral (if my memory serves correctly) and she is incredibly close to the boat. JY swiftly turns the engine off to avoid hurting her and avoid the 500k fine you can get for being too near them. We are all in awe as she comes up for breath so close to us and we are treated to a beautiful view of her tail coming out of the water to dive down further. It’s a truly amazing experience that brings a tear to Ems eye.
We spend some more time watching the sea frothing with whales around us, and when we are sure there are none too close, we head further on. There are reports of a humpback not too far from us so we speed over to the area where many other boats are searching, right next to the sea lion island. Alex and I manage to spot a blow from the lonely HB, but sadly we don’t see anymore of it, it’s suspected to be a migrating one and those are pretty speedy and hard to keep up with! We do a U turn to go round and see the California sea lion community, and boy do these stink! We saw a colony on our safari the day before but due to some sea sickness not everyone saw them, so today is the day. These animals can way up to 1.4 metric tonnes and I can see why they’re called lions as their roars are very impressive. The colony are all males, having a rest before mating season, sunning their enormous bodies on the rocks. They are quite funny creatures, akin to an oversized lazier seal. We also spot some sea otters chilling in the kelp fields which are super cute. Sadly it comes to the end of our trip with JY and we are brought back to land. Tofino is a sweet busy seaside town, and we have a wander through the craft market before we leave the boys in the play park while em and I search for patches and some whale tail necklaces. Patches and whale tails secured we head back for fish and chips at Big Daddy’s before heading on. We have really loved Uclulet and Tofino but it is time for us to explore the east and north sides of the island. We manage to get all the way across the island to Qualicum beach and find a fantastic spot right in front of the ocean to stay for the evening. The sunset is beautiful and the grown ups enjoy a lovely gin, and Alex and I (still a kid but also with gin) attempt to do some fishing. Catch of the day - seaweed and soggy feet. Dried off and sleepy from sea air we all head to bed excited for what this side of the island will bring.
Zara
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