Day 23 - Surfing in Tofino !
Today is one of the days we’ve been really looking forward to! We made our way to Tofino to go surf the west coast waves.
Misty Mountain Roads
We woke up at 4 this morning, having surf lessons at 9 and a 3 hour drive to tofino. After a quick breakfast we where on the road through the central mountains of the island. The drive itself was really something; a thick fog was covering the road between the mountains giving a very eerie vibe to our morning. The lakes and mountains disappearing into the fog created such a cool atmosphere that we had to stop at a few places to take it all in.
Surfer town Tofino
Finally arriving near Tofino we could see glimpses of the ocean through the trees, this truly excited us for the day to come! In Tofino, almost all the cars had surfboards on their roofs and in general the town had a real “West Coast Surf” vibe to it. It was really cool to see and explore before our lessons!
Surf lessons!
After what seemed like forever it was time for our surf lessons! we where super excited going in and our coaches where so rad. They gave us some wet suits before we made our way to the beach where they started the security briefing. We drew some surfboards in the sand to learn and practice how to approach a wave, how to get on the board and the proper stance!
Surfs up!
Without further ado it was time to throw ourselves into the cold waters of the pacific ocean. The first few time we had trouble getting used to getting on the board and riding the large waves but after a few tries Marty got the hang of it and before long Tim was surfing along as well! through all our time in the water it didn’t mater if we got thrown around or we managed to surf we had a smile across our faces. Surfing was really thrilling and fun, Marty now wants to buy surfboard!
Surfing is all about falling
Although Marty got the hang of it pretty quickly, Tim had a bit of a harder time staying on the board. He managed to get a few waves on his knees and even a few waves crouching on the board near the end! As for Marty, he managed to stand on the board in the first half-hour, he was one of the best students of the lesson. That’s not to say that he did not fall however. He still fell 5 out of 6 of the waves he managed to catch, and so did the more experienced surfers on the beach !
Surfing is way more about falling and getting back up than about riding the wave !
The Old Giants
On our way back to Tofino, we had to stop by Cathedral Grove, a stop we couldn’t make on the way out for a lack of time. This grove is home to some of the biggest trees in British-Columbia