Tofino: Camping & surfing
Tofino is part of the Vancouver Islands and it’s quite far with a 2 hour ferry ride + another 3 hours of driving. I have never been to Tofino before but it has always been on my list. This summer, my friends and I traveled to Tofino for a weekend camping and surfing trip.
Getting there
The 4 of us took my car and we booked a ferry for 8 am. For ferry reservations, you are expected to arrive 30-45 minutes before departure time and basically this was one of the rare days when I woke up at 6 am. But it was ok because we were going on a trip!
We arrived at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and relaxed by grabbing a cookie and some pastries from their limited stores area.
We boarded the ferry and enjoyed the sunny views for 2 hours. As part of new covid protocols, you are required to wear a mask if you choose to leave your vehicle. A lot of folks still left their car but everyone I saw was wearing a mask. Their cafeteria (i.e. mostly Whitespot) was open.
We arrive in Nanaimo and I begin my 3 hour drive. I am nervous because I have never driven so far before and in fact even just boarding the ferry, I was already a little nervous.
Break time!
I drive for around an hour before we make a stop to take a break. I am directed to drive to Old Country Market but I was told to punch in “Goat roof” into my Google Maps.
Old Country Market is in a small area called Coombs. It features a variety of interesting shops – wooden sculptures of animals and a giant penis, boutiques with lots of scarves and tie-dye skirts, some coffee shops, ice cream parlous and a donut shop.
The key point of Old Country Market is that the roof of this market has grass and goats live on it. How cool is that? FYI you are not allowed to feed the goats.
The inside of the market is actually also very cool. Minus their pastry/ready-to-go food department because they don’t heat up your food so if you buy a sausage roll, expect it to be cold and kinda gross.
But yeah the market inside is a local grocery store with lots of cured meats, cheese, jams, etc. They also have some other items like bowls and utensils, toys, giant candles, and a lot of other locally crafted items.
Accommodations: Surfer’s Junction
The campground we are staying at is called Surfer’s Junction. They are technically located in Ucluelet, which is not Tofino, but they are right at the junction of Ucluelet and Tofino so you can drive to both places easily (both like a 15 minute drive).
A regular campsite for 4 people and 1 vehicle will cost $45. The campsite is pretty average with a fire pit and picnic table, but one bonus is that every campsite has their own water tap so you don’t need to walk far away to fill up water.
Their facilities are nice. They have coin-operated showers and flushable toilets. They even have a hot tub! Max. 4 adults in it at one time during covid.
After setting up our tents, we drive to the Co-op Food Store in Ucluelet to pick up groceries. They only allow 1 individual to enter per group as per their covid protocols. We also make a stop at the Ucluelet Liquor Store and buy some overpriced beers.
Note: I low key like that the stores are called such simple names. There are no Wholefoods or Superstore, it’s just the town food store and the town liquor store lol.
We return to the campsite to do a bbq lunch.
Things to do: Sight see at Tofino beaches
We drive down to Long Beach in Tofino to just explore and take a look at the beaches. The parking lot situation was kind of strange because you are supposed to pay for parking but the machines were broken. We asked around what we should do and apparently the penalty fee for not paying for parking is the same as just paying for parking, so we decided to just not pay and if we get charged we would just pay it lol.
Anyways, I am blown away by Long Beach because it is the most beautiful beach I have ever been on in BC.
There was sand! Real sand! Soft sand! Not that gravel shit we are used to in the Lower Mainland.
The view is just amazing and it was so open and vast. The waves are cashing in and it feels so nice and cool when you step in it and your toes have squishy sand in between them.
It is quite late by the time we are done exploring Long Beach – around 6 or 7 pm – so the beach is quite empty. We return to our campsite to cook dinner and make a campfire.
Also, we were told that the whole town of Ucluelet and Tofino has run out of firewood and we were advised to bring our own. Please check with your campsite before you go to see if this is something you need to do.
Things to do: Surfing!
So the prime activity in Tofino is surfing. Aside from our campsite, there are so many other campsites and hotels that offer surf rentals and surf lessons.
We rent directly from Surfer’s Junction. The rental package comes with a surfboard, wet suit and a roof rack so you can load up your surfboards to the top of your vehicle. It costs $75 to rent all of this for 1.5 days, which I think is not that expensive at all.
Me with a man’s suit. 
Me with a womens suit.
Putting on a wetsuit is pretty painful lol. They also mixed up our order somehow and I had to wear a mens large, which is crazy because that meant one of the guys is wearing my size, which is a womens small. And somehow all of us was able to wear our wetsuits??? I will never understand this physics.
Anyways so yeah we drive back to Long Beach and I attempt to surf for the first time. The wet suit is a must because even though we went on a hot weekend (and by hot I mean like 25 degrees lol it’s a rainforest here people! Not gonna be above 30), the water is still cold. I ate a lot of salt water in the beginning and had difficulty getting myself and the board out to catch a wave (short people problems).
My other 3 friends have gone surfing before but I struggled to know what I was doing. My preparations included watching a 3 minute video on Youtube once before this and that’s it.
As a total amateur, I can still tell you it was fun just to ride the waves. And if you can’t stand up or you bail, it’s still fine because it’s water. The waves were much stronger on our second day than the first one, so that was kinda scary. I did end up hurting my jaw because when I bailed, I tried to swim back up asap. However, when I came out of the water, my own surfboard slammed into my jaw (LOL fuck). To avoid this, wait in the water after you fall and you should feel a tug from the rope on your ankle. This means the surfboard is now behind you and will not hit you when the wave comes.
If surfing is not something you are interested in, there are also multiple other board activities you can do. I saw a lot of kids boogy-boarding. The board looks kind of like that kicking board they give you when you first learn to swim. You just put your torso on it and ride the waves (no standing). You can also try skim-boarding, which is like skateboarding with no wheels on the shallow side of the beach. You ride it horizontally along the beach shore.
Where to eat: Tacofino
After a morning of surfing, we grab lunch at the original Tacofino food truck in Tofino! Read my review here.
Where to eat: Ravenlady
After surfing the next day, we grabbed lunch at Ravenlady, an oyster and seafood food truck in Ucluelet. Read my review here.
Things to do: Englishman River Falls
On the drive back to the ferry terminal, we decide to make a stop in Parksville to do a quick little trail at Englishman River Falls. It is a very short trail and they have some cool swimming holes in the lower loop filled with people.
Final thoughts
I really really loved my trip to Tofino. I think the beaches themselves makes it so worth the drive because it is unlike any other beach in the Lower Mainland.
I also really enjoyed surfing even though I got hurt (my jaw is fine now!). My finger tips were also bleeding by the end of the second day because of constant sanding on my surfboard (just me holding onto the board during the waves). It is a very tiring activity/sport and I must say it may not be ideal for short people especially because it is so hard to carry the board. The surf board is heavy, even if it’s a foam board. If you were tall, you’d be able to hold the surfboard under your armpit like a business folder, or maybe against your waist like a laundry basket. My arm is not long enough for either so I had to put the surfboard on top of my head. It still hurt and I still had a really hard time bringing my surfboard from the car to the beach.
Sounds like I am complaining a lot but I still had a lot of fun and would attempt to surf again.
Seafood was really delicious on the islands even though everything was a bit pricier. Our campsite was perfect for surfing and the hot tub felt sooo good after a day of surfing. Beaches also had shower facilities.
Sincerely, Loewe
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