Tofino Part 3

He could see on the horizon this wave was big. His heart pounded. He clutched the board with his cold, numb hands, and he waited. The moment came upon him too swiftly. The wave was bigger than he thought. He jumped on and rode the wave, clinging on to some imaginary force in nature that would restore his balance. This was Rene....the surfer dude dad.

"Hang ten! Naarly."

Surfing was amazing! Hannah at Pacific Surf School was a great Instructor. Thank-you Hannah!
It cost us $357 for 3 hours with a personal surfing Instuctor, west suits and boards for the 4 of us. The kids picked up surfing in no time...they were naturals...Alora was doing 180's within 1/2 an hour on the board.

Even Kalina was Rippin'

Even I got into the game....I was soooooo good...they called me 'splash'....an endearing term, I thought.... I looked it up on Riptionary a surfing lingo web site. I'll let you look it up. 'splash'

That's about as far as I got..... any further and into the drink I went....Next time I'll stand on it!

Here are a few more pictures.....Thank-you to Jennifer from PSS who sent these shots...

We loved it so much we actually went back the next day and rented 2 boards and 4 wet suits from the rental place next to the Storm. This cost us $105 for a 6 hour rental.
"Came back for more eh?" a guy from PSS recognized us, "You caught the surfin' bug."
Yes we did....Costly...but so much fun....well worth it.
I would recommend taking a lesson...it's more than just learning surfing moves...it's also about safety....the right of way...reading the waves and checking out undercurrents...so please be safe before you try it out.
Here's a few shots of us on our own the next day...

 Thanks for stopping by....stay tuned for Part 4.....Forestry Service roads adventure...to Revelstoke and Mable Lake.

Parksville - Tofino

Part 2
Sorry it's a little late.... for a refresher see  Part 1
Mon June 21st 2010 - Day trip in Tofino

"This is our next vehicle!" Rene drooled over the German Mercedes 'go all over the world' RV. He was as giddy as a school boy, dreaming of the next adventure.
We arrived at midnight, back in Parksville, not realizing that they had closed the gates on us at 11pm in Rathtrevor Provincial Park.
"Should have paid a little more attention to that when we left I suppose?"
Anyone who knows Rathtrevor, also knows it's a bit of a hike in to the camp ground with 2 sleepy kids and a whinny dog. So, Rene did what he had to..... he tried to go around the large yellow bars. If you happen to pass Otto when you come for a visit....take a look at the passenger door....we have bright yellow sport stripes now.
"You were supposed to say STOP!"
"I was looking at the big rock and tree on the other side of the car!"
Rene parked Otto at the little camp store at the entrance and in a huff went to seek a ranger to let us in. I tried to make the girls comfortable and console the dog, who seemed worried.
"Angel wants to know where dad's going." Alora's face showed signs of concern. Angel grunted her agreement.
"He's just going...."
"Get in the car!" Rene was out of breath and running back towards us, "There's something big coming up the road... and it's moving fast!" We all jumped into the van and slammed the door, waiting in anticipation to see what kind of horrible creature could move so quickly and scare my husband. After what seemed like slow motion moments in time crawling to a crescendo of emotions, (Remember we have 2 young girls and a whinny dog in the van), a man on a bicycle rode by. I looked at Rene and  laughed.
We drove to the walk-in entrance in the San Pareil area beside the park. It was a shorter walk to our camp spot. The girls, dog and I slept in Goldie and Rene slept in Otto. What an adventure!

Tuesday June 22nd, 2010
We had an amazing day on the beach in Rathtrevor. So relaxing! We saw so many sea creatures, sea grass eels, crabs, sea stars, sea slug, anemones, urchins, seaweed crab, baby flounder, sculpins, moon snails, clams.

I love it here. The sound of the ocean, the smell of the ocean, the taste of the ocean. It satisfies all my senses. Salt water runs through my blood...literally and metaphorically. I was born in a small fishing village in Holland. Living close to the salt water, and working on the ocean, is in my family's past, it's my heritage. I hope it's in my future too.

Wednesday June 23rd, 2010
Woke up late. Showered and laundered clothes. Went to Little Qualicum Cheese Works.
Saw Lil' Joe again.... He's now Medium Joe.... not medium rare Joe yet. If you don't know who Lil' Joe is see Vancouver Island April 2010 blog.
 Rene and the girls went fishing and came back with a few tall fish tales.... Fred the flying fish. Rene had pulled in a fish that was so small that it went flying over Alora and grazed the top of her head. They called him Fred.
Later when we all walked to the bathroom together.... the girls put glow sticks on the dogs harness... looked like glowing angel wings.

Thursday June 24th, 2010
Another wonderful beach day.
As we sat around drinking coffee after breakfast a caterpillar fell from above and onto Alora's head.
"Good thing it fell there and not into my coffee." Rene said looking at his eldest daughter sitting on his lap.

"Good thing it fell on you and not your sister....the poor thing would have gotten lost in that mop of hers and 3 months later a beautiful butterfly would emerge."

Lazy afternoon in the sun - eating - reading - writing...Nice!
Doug the squirrel is laughing at me as I sit here and write. Charlie the crow just stopped by.

Friday June 25th, 2010
Woke up early and packed up. Everything we needed had to fit into Goldie.... we were leaving Otto behind. (The camp spot in Tofino couldn't fit both vans). Went to Smitty's for breakfast.
"Smitty's is a much better restaurant than the Wikinninish Inn Dad." Said Alora the food critic.
Leisurely drive across the Island on the 4A. The van was slow at times and we held up traffic.

We stayed at Bella Pacifica Camp Ground in Tofino. Camping was a bit cramped and close together. Clean washrooms.
Mackenzie Beach was beautiful...it's protected with lots of islands surrounding it. Not as wavy as the other beaches, so you probably can't surf here... but great for kids to muck around.

Friday evening after a lovely lie in the warm sand and sun we had dinner and popped some pop corn and played cards. Both girls were giggling and being goof balls and it took forever to play the game. 

Stay tuned for Part 3.... Surfing....44 year old style!

Rene catching a wave....naarly dude!

Anuschka...catches air! Does she live through it?....