Sailing Adventures of s/v Talos IV: Tofino and Ucluelet

We are in Tofino, or at least we were when I started writing this blog entry, the first major town since leaving Port Hardy on the East side of Vancouver Island about a month ago. Tofino has it all, or at least it seems that way after being out and about in the wilds on the west coast of the island. We of course have satisfied our espresso fix. In fact, we've tried each of the three coffee shops here in town just for good measure. We had wifi on the docks as well, a first on the trip.

Our route from Bacchante Bay was about 24 miles and wound through and around all the various islands that pock mark Clayoquat Sound. We were surprised at how shallow the depths were, about 15 feet in much of the sound. In fact, for the first time, there were navigation buoys marking many of the channels. We did our best to follow the path and managed to stay out of trouble. When we arrived, the wharfinger had us raft up to a large fishing vessel while he found us a spot. Paul did an excellent job of getting Talos IV up next to the other boat. And then when a spot had been located, we discovered that it would require backing down a narrow fairway which shallowed on one side to less than 3 feet. Once again, Paul pulled it off with no issues. Even the wharfinger commented that that was a fine job of parking the boat.

Other than re-provisioning, the highlight of our two night stop was the run over to Meares Island in the dinghy to walk the Big Tree Trail. The area was set to be logged back in the eighties, but protesters who actually chained themselves to the giant old growth trees prevailed and today it is open for all to enjoy. The boardwalk is a bit rickety, but somehow it seems to fit the situation.

Janet, with our lunch in hand, along the boardwalk.

Paul was amazed at the size of the tree.

As much as she tried, she just couldn't get her arms
around the tree.

Papa bear, Mama bear, Baby bear. Somebody was
having some fun with the wood that was used to
make the boardwalk.

This was the Grand Daddy of them all. It is the
4th largest western red cedar in BC. Note the
hanging gardens of ferns about 2/3 up.

The boardwalk wasn't exactly like Disneyland.

This converted wooden boat is someones home. It sits
across the channel from the Government Docks
where we were moored.

We left Tofino at 6 AM this morning. The weather forecast was for gale force winds kicking up to about 35 knots by early afternoon. We estimated that it was about a 27 mile run and by leaving early, would be safely at dock by the time things got ugly. As it turned out, conditions were even too light to sail until just before we made the turn into Carolina Passage, the entryway to Barkley Sound and Ucluelet Inlet. The wind clocked from the south at about 2 knots to north at about 13 knots virtually instantaneously. The fog settled in at about the same time and we had to negotiate the narrow passage with what seemed like hundreds of small fishing boats working the area for salmon and halibut. The radar looked like it was swarming with activity. Since we were so close to shore and the breaking waves, we had to visually identify each navigation buoy before making our turn to the next one. We didn't want to assume that we had reached a buoy and make our turn too early only to find out that what we thought was the buoy was one of the many fishing boats. All worked out well and when we entered Ucluelet Inlet the sun broke out and we motored on to the Ucluelet Boat Haven for the night. Wifi on the docks again, they are going to spoil me.

Tomorrow we will venture out into Barkley Sound and the Broken Group, also known as the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, to see what adventures await us.