Chesterman Beach and Tofino

The following day we drove up to Chesterman Beach

Where we walked for awhile

then went for lunch at the very fancy Wickaninnish Inn.  

Entrance

With lots of local art.

The Driftwood Cafe in the lower level is casual and reasonably priced and has a view of the beach and ocean.

Afterwards we checked out the public areas in the upper floors.

Great views

Then we went down the beach

 to see the quirky architecturally designed vacation rental we stayed at on our previous trip seven years ago in January 2019.

2019

Alas it had been demolished and in its place was

A steel frame.

So we posed for a reunion shot.

RIP is for the house not us. We all survived the cold we all caught on our weekend.

Next we drove to Tofino.

The sun was out!  I realized it was the first time I'd ever seen the beautiful mountain scenery from Tofino harbour.  It had always been clouded in.

Posed for a parting shot.

The next morning we drove back to Victoria and stopped at Cathedral Grove for a walk around the giant trees.

They are even bigger than the last time we visited!

Christmas on Vancouver Island

Yum

We spent Christmas in Victoria with my sister Dorothea.  On our way Leo had an appointment with the pacemaker clinic in Kamloops.  We'd made a reservation for the 7 pm ferry sailing under the impression we could amend it if we couldn't make it in time.  However the day before all the sailings were cancelled due to weather so all the ferries were fully booked on our sailing day.  And they closed the Coquihalla highway as well due to snow.  Leo had a 1:30 appointment and the clinic told him to come in early as they might be able to slip him in early.  Fortunately they took him him as soon as we arrived at 11 am; we never would have made it on time on the Fraser Canyon route.  In the end the drive through the Canyon was uneventful eventful except for all the transport trucks rerouted from the Coq.  We made it to the ferry with a half hour to spare.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve at Dorothea's house (see above) and then present opening on Boxing Day at Stephen and Heidi's house in Nanaimo.

On December 27th we drove to Ucluelet for a 3 day getaway with Dorothea and our friends Janet and Rod, in town from Montreal.

We stopped at the Malahat for a view over the Saanich Inlet.

We stayed in the vacation rental Dorothea stays in every March with her hiking friends. 

We had the second floor and a young family were in the first floor apartment.

It's very nice inside.

On the first night Dorothea and I walked down to Terrace Beach (5 minutes away).  There was a group of people having a bonfire on the beach.

Then we checked out the Terrace Beach Resort, all lit up for Christmas. It's a warren of elevated walkways between the cabins.  Fun fact:  it used to be owned by Jason Priestly of Beverly Hills 9110 fame.  According to the resort website it was designed to give the "feel of a 1920s oceanfront fishing village nestled amidst the lush rainforest."

The next morning we walked the lighthouse loop starting at Terrace Beach.

It was quite drizzly so maybe that's why I didn't get a picture of the lighthouse.

In the afternoon we drove to the visitors' centre for Pacific Rim National Park.  We were shown the pelt of a sea otter.

Visitors' Centre in background

We walked a portion of Long Beach.  It was low tide and I was excited to find one sea star hiding in the crevice of a rock.  Starfish used to be abundant on the BC coast but 90% of the population has been lost to sea star wasting disease since 2013.