Ucluelet

We have had a wonderful past few days. It is truly beautiful out on the west coast of Vancouver Island! However, its also colder than we have become accustom too since the mid-thirties weather in Squamish... toques, down jackets and fuzzy socks are all requirements for most of the day and especially at night. That hasn't gotten us down though; we've still been hiking, checking out the local beaches and even doing a little surfing!

We met up with Bonnie and her Padres two days ago and took in the sights between Ucluelet and Tofino looking for a good hike, eventually find the pleasant jaunt down to Halfmoon Bay. Yesterday we decided to try out the "Wild Pacific Trail" that turned out to be less wild and more of a tour through the developing commercial yuppie residential zone. Nice once you were far enough way from houses or bulldozed lots, but not what we were expecting from the name. Then we rented some surfboards and wet suites, picked up Bonnie and were off to Wick beach for some evening surfing. Paul did great for his first time out and didnt get pummeled too terribly. Surfing is definitely one of those sports that take tons of practice and is way harder then it seems.

We were at it again this morning, both of us doing better than we were last night and even got to enjoy some sunshine while we got thrashed about. Now were back in Nanaimo trying to figure out a course of action from here. Sounds like to get the equipment we need for some mountaineering we want to do in Strathcona Park we are going to have to ferry back to Vancouver, go to MEC and then ferry back here tomorrow.... bummer.

However! After all of that is done we should set for a wickedly awesome expedition into the heart of the island mountains to bag a few peaks, get our resumes in and even do some alpine climbing. Should be awesome!

Checking out the abundant fauna in the tidal pools with Bonnie and her parents

It was so great to see Bonnie again!

Wick beach this morning. It was starting to get hot out and the water was evaporating of the sand creating a beautiful mist that hung just a few feet of the sand.


Unfortunately, surfing (or swallowing sea water?) seems to make Paul feel nauseous so after a few hours he turned in his board for his camera and snapped all of these shots!

Riding a wave in!

Peace, Love, Anarchy and Surfing (....and climbing)

Paul doing the dishes in our Ucluelet kitchen.

Staying warm! We were really suprised that we had to dig out all of our layers from the depths of the car. Misty and cool.