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Welcome to the latest series of Super, Neighbours blog posts where we highlight incredible travel destinations in British Columbia!Long Weekends are great for getaways, be summer, or any season here in BC!It's "Surfing Month" in Tofino, Canada's surfing capital and Tourism Tofino is celebrating with events, special deals and, of course, surfing!I spent a weekend in Tofino during the Queen Of The Peak competition - Canada's first and only all-women's surfing championship - watch some girls kick some butt on the water, tried my hand at it myself, ate some delicious local food, and stayed in a beautiful location. |
You're on Part Four?, make sure you see Part One, the "Getting There" and Part Two, "Accommodations", and Part Three: "Queen Of The Peak" from the series!
As it says up there in the description, it's "Surfing Month" in Tofino! So what would a trip designed around surfing be without actually going surfing!? Well it would probably involve food, and nature, which I'm going to get to as well. Make sure you scroll through the whole blog post to see myself, and some of the other awesome media, in action on the waves (and by action and waves, I mean attempting - some successfully - to stand up in the whitewash waves.)
First up on the food end of things, I enjoyed an amazing bowl of seafood chowder while watching the Queen Of The Peak competition from the dining area at the Long Beach Lodge. It was so cozy, and warm...soup was the perfect choice and this one was delectable.
Later on, on our first night in Tofino we stopped by the Driftwood Cafe at the Wickaninnish Inn for a Media Mingle - some food, wine and great company.
Fellow VIA blogger May Globus (who was there writing for Vitamin Daily Vancouver) and I got distracted by the beautiful sunset happening over North Chesterman beach, so we went for a little photo-taking wander on the shore...
The next day's food events included a little 'Dine About' to some of the restaurants and hotels in the area. First stop was the Pacific Sands Beach Resort for some wine and cheese. Pacific Sands has some very cute stand alone two-story buildings you can rent, many with gorgeous views of Cox Bay...
We then hopped over to the Long Beach Lodge lodge, first checking out the surf-facilities for guests (*ahem, hot tub!) including the new store, then we settled in for some more wine and DELICIOUS Portland Pointe Halibut w/ fingerling potato, fennel salad w/ cherry tomatos and veggies.
Last we ended up at Shelter Restaurant to hear the results of the competition and for some dessert and after dinner drinks. I had an amazing warm apple crumble, and a cocktail from their creative drink menu!
Okay, finally I bring you my personal surfing adventure...
During the "Get Your Surf On" month, you can get a 4-for-3 discount at 10 of the surf shops in Tofino! Click here for more info.
I was with the group that went out with Surf Sister to Cox Bay on a bright and sunny (and really warm) day! Some of the photos below are mine from an underwater disposable camera, and some are from the wonderful Lynda Kaye...the quality pretty much will tell you the difference.
We learned the basics on land, including safety, etiquette and how to stand up on the board, before heading out into the water...
Here are some shots from IN the water - I put my surfboard away for a bit because it was a challenge to get out of everyone's way with it AND take photos at the same time.
It was a ton of fun, and while I'm not particularly coordinated enough to stand up (yet), I hope I can try again in the future/very soon.
That being said it was still a lot of hard work, and by the time we were done, the waves were getting mighty big and the wind was blowing really hard, and we had worked up quite the appetite.
Solution?: Tacofino!
I'm pictured below at the Tacofino truck (yes it was actually that warm out in October) with Catherine Roscoe Barr, where we got some delicious food and ate back at the Chesterman Beach B&B in the sun, along with Catherine's husband Aaron, and Lynda Kaye from Tourism Tofino (and the Chesterman Beach B&B).
Finally, my last meal in Tofino was one of my favourites. It was POURING rain right before we were about to make our way to the airport, so when we stopped in at SOBO for a quick lunch; I once again knew soup was the way to go. I had the Miso Soup - shiro miso, organic shitake mushrooms, scallions & smoked tofu - with soba noodles and a side of the house baked bread...Oh and one of their famous margaritas (Hand squeezed key limes? Yes please!).
That's it for this trip to Tofino! Thanks to Tourism Tofino for EVERYTHING they did for me, Destination BC for the Orca Airways flights, the Chesterman Beach B&B for one of the best stays ever, Queen Of The Peak for supporting amazing female surfing talent, Surf Sister for getting me back out on the water, and all the wonderful restaurants and hotels we visited along the way.
Til next time Tofino...and I hope you all are able to head over and "Get Your Surf On"!
