You may not go to Tofino, BC for the weather, but you’ll keep going back for what it does for your soul.

I’d visited Tofino for two relatively short visits within the past year or so, slowly re-discovering a coastal paradise on the west side of Vancouver Island’s coast that I’d first experienced as a child.

Trees

When I was choosing a destination this summer to de-compress for a week, my mind wandered across continents but finally settled on a roadtrip-style journey back to the beach in Tofino.

It’s truly at the end of the road, after a spectacular three-hour drive across Vancouver Island, from either Nanaimo or Comox (if arriving by ferry or flight, local flight service also flies direct to Long Beach, located just south of Tofino).

Raincoats

From rainforest-lined roads, to pounding surf (and sometimes pounding rain), to spectacular sunsets, secret hot springs coves, surfing, wildlife, walking trails, wild ancient forests, food feasts and endless stretches of beachcombing, to quiet lodges with fireplaces and cozy couches, a trip to Tofino lets  you be as active or sedate as you like.

Paddleboarder

I took part in a five-day progressive surf camp through the fabulous ladies at Surf Sister, where I progressed to truly feeling comfortable tackling the “green waves”.

Into the Surf

Maybe it’s the constant companion of the lapping waves, but Tofino has a calming effect of helping me to cut out the noise and commitments of day-to-day life and truly be in the moment.

Tofino Sand

Now, the city traffic  once again replaces the lapping of the waves, but if I listen hard enough, I can hear the mighty Pacific through the clutter.

Thanks, Tofino, for re-introducing me to myself again.