The trip to Tofino was tons of fun, as expected! The flight to Victoria was smooth, albeit early. We picked up the rental car there and drove the rest of the way to Tofino, checked into our hostel, grabbed some food, watched "What Not to Wear" and went to bed. Interesting note... Stacey (of Stacey and Clinton fame) was wearing the same Marc Jacobs dress that I bought in North Carolina! I knew I had style!
Saturday morning was day one of learning to surf. We had a quick lesson at the Surf Sister shop, in a group with 5 other really fun girls. Then we got all geared-up in our wet suits... gloves, booties and hoods included, since it was frickin' cold out. We piled into the rental car and drove about 5 minutes out of town to North Chesterman Beach, where we drew a surf board on the sand and practiced "popping up" for about 5 minutes and then into the water we went! I thought there would be a lot more instruction but it's pretty much "here are the basics, go to it." The first few attempts at popping up went fairly poorly, but somewhere between attempt 5 and 10 I managed to pull it off. It's all about timing, so once you get used to how it should feel when you're in the right part of the wave, it's no problem... except that then you've got to try to get and stay on your feet! That's the tricky part, but once you're up it's awesome. We surfed for about 1.5 hours and then headed back to the hostel.
It rained all afternoon, so after showering up and having some lunch Katie and I headed out to the Wickaninnish Interpretative Centre. Just as we were about to go to see an enthralling film on the Inter-Tidal Zone we spotted our friend Chum, completely randomly and out of the blue. Turns out he was on the island for the weekend too! Very friggin' weird if you ask me. After the movie the rain had let up a bit, so we then did a hike through the rainforest. It was absolutely beautiful in there, so lush and green, dark and slightly creepy. It was really cool to be in an old-growth forest. Then we went back, made some supper, and watched more TLC before hitting the hay.
Up bright and early the next morning to go for surf lesson # 2. We had a brief lesson on types of waves, types of breaks, some terminology and stuff, then headed out to the beach again. The waves were nice and big again that day, which unfortunately meant we couldn't go out past the break... a little too extreme for us beginners. So we spent another couple of hours surfing the white water. I was able to get up and actually do some maneuvering on the board that day and it was a ton of fun. I really liked surfing and think it's something I could really get into. I must go back and try it again soon.
By this time our upper bodies were extremely sore and tired, but we went for a run anyway... still got that half-marathon thing to do in September so there's no time for slacking off! Then we had some lunch and did some shopping and cruising around Tofino for the afternoon. And the evening included dinner and more TLC before an early bedtime.
Next morning we got up and checked out of the hostel and drove to North Chesterman's Beach to take some pictures. We weren't able to take our cameras down to the beach while we were surfing so now was the time. Then we drove to Ucluelet, where we did a little hike around the shoreline. Armed with the knowledge we gained during the blockbuster Inter-Tidal Zone, we explored along the shore during low tide and took lots of pictures of shells, crabs and starfish. It was really pretty there and the low tide smell reminded me of home. We made a pit stop and got some ice cream and then were on our way again. We stopped again at Cathedral Grove, an old-growth forest full of gigantic Douglas Firs, or as Tamara calls them... Big Fuckin' Trees! It didn't move me to tears like it did Tamara, but it was still breath-taking. From there we made our way back to Victoria to catch our flight back to reality.
In all, very good times. I discovered I'm pretty boring... we were in bed by about 10:30 each night, and spent our evenings watching TLC. I guess I'm just not the party animal sort. I also discovered that I really liked surfing and want to do a lot more of it. Another discovery, the closer I get to Calgary the more stressed out I get. That cannot be a good sign.
Make sure to check out my photos on Flickr. Unfortunately they're pretty stingey with the amount you're allowed to upload so they are only the highlights. Enjoy!
Me all suited up for surfing. Good times ensued.
1 comment:
You look mighty sweet in that suit Kate. I am so glad you had a good time. You will have to come back to NC and do some surfing in Willmington.
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