As promised, here are some of the Tofino pics I’ve been meaning to post from the last couple trips. Bear with me… there’s quite a few!

HD Video of Tofino is still on the way… I’ll probably have a chance to edit it this weekend. In the meantime, hope you like the photos! I’ve still got a few more somewhere that I’ll post soon.

The view from our campsite… the ocean, the trees, the sun! That’s why it’s my favourite spot to camp…

Our car just full of camping stuff… skim boards, cooking gear, coolers, food etc… yep… gotta admit food takes up the most space. Luxury “car camping”, as Tawcan would call it

A citronella candle in our campsite… I love to scatter these everywhere around the site. They look beautiful when it is dark out. Plus… a mosquito perimeter… a bonus for those who dislike bugs as much as I do

Making mojitos at the campsite…

Crista and Trev put together some yummy beer-braised ribs over the campfire…

Allan and I make up some mango-topped thai coconut Pacific halibut (caught in Tofino of course, by us)…

Tent City! And tarp city I love how camping is the perfect excuse to wear all sorts of silly non-matched things. Who cares! You’re camping!

I love the ripples in the sand.

SPLASH!

One of my fave restaurants in Tofino… Shelter. We always ask for the best spot in the whole restaurant… the couches right by the wood-burning fire that they stoke all night. Perfect.

Shelter’s yam fries (the best in my opinion), and some wings for appies.

We also like to eat at the Wildside Grill for Fish & Chips, grab a lime and mint slushie from the taco cart in the back, and grab a coffee or tea from the Tofitian. The very same plaza also has Live to Surf, which we always check out to see what new surfboards they have in… and try to avoid the mass craziness of people renting 9 ft easy-rider foamie or plastic longboards! Aahhhh!

Long Beach, on a good day.

Ready to surf! Yay for Burton snowboarding socks to keep the feet warm just before hitting the cold water.

Allan riding down the line… wheee… small summer waves.

Me riding a tiny wave… I look pretty lame here. I wish I had good surfing photos of myself! Of course, when the waves are big and the surf is epic, there’s no one to take pictures of you

Allan and I riding whitewash into the beach together, hurray! Haha.

A children’s toy shovel left on Long Beach…

Golfing at Long Beach Golf Course… 9 holes… lots of fun, with J, Trev, and Crista.

J decides to ride on the front of the golf cart…

Me chipping a ball…

Allan flying the trainer kite… blue, blue sky.

Me flying the trainer kite. Once upon a time we thought we were going to get into kite surfing, but then we realized how expensive the gear was, and that we wouldn’t have enough time to do kite surfing along with all the other sports we love. So it kind of fell by the wayside. Maybe one day we’ll get into it again… maybe kite snowboarding

Smoooooch! Allan and I in the water…

So fun! More photos coming soon

Pretty sure that I surfed my face off this weekend!

It was good to get away from the hot, hot city… and escape to my favourite place in the whole world… Tofino. It was cool, damp, and absolutely fantastic. 4 days of camping, surfing, and friends.

I’ve managed to get some sweet HD video footage together, so I’m going to work on editing all of that this week… so I’ll save a big post for later, but here are a couple images from our weekend.

It was foggy in the park pretty much the entire time we were there. Friday night Allan and I had a pretty epic 2.5 surf session till it was pitch black… smooth and glassy waves. Saturday was a 3-hour surf session with friends in the water… a bit foggy, small waves, but pretty clean. Sunday was another foggy session in the water but still good. And Monday afternoon before we left was a small session, not that great, a little blown out…

But does it matter? Nope! Because as long as I am surfing, I am a happy camper

We went crabbing in the Tofino Harbour… and feasted on crabs all night. Delicious! Sooo good. Dungeness and Red Rock.

We also cooked up lots of delicious meals over the grill, not mention that the campfire ban wasn’t in effect in Pacific Rim, so we enjoyed some huge fires to keep us warm at night.

Overall, a great weekend. More photos and videos coming soon! And yes, some surf videos I know it’s been a little light around here lately…

So, I’m off to Tofino! Time to quickly publish the post I prepped last night and head straight from work to the ferries! I’m not going to get started on the ferries though.

So I’ll be in Tofino until July 6th. Finally, a long week of surfing, camping, time by the beach in the sun (and rain), camp stove cooking, and friends.

Every year, we get a big group of people together and head over to Greenpoint in Tofino for camping and surfing on Canada Day.

Let me show you all the crap we bring along with us! Ah, the joys of car camping. Our equipment is well-worn and not in great shape after camping trips every other weekend, but they still hold up!

First off, time to prep the shallots. I got this idea from my friend Trev: prep all your food in advance where there’s light, good knives, and cuttingboards and then you don’t have to worry about all the mess and disaster while you are camping.

Pro Tip: Wear your snowboard goggles to prevent from massive eye hysteria while cutting up millions of shallots. It works. LOL!

Here’s all the food we prepped last night. Needless to say, we were up late. But it’s such a bonus not having to wash everything and cut it all up when you are hungry after a long day of surfing and it’s dark and cold out. Click on the photo and then click on “All Sizes” to see a bigger version so you can see the text.

Also very necessary: camping equipment. MEC Tarn 3 tent, MEC rollout mats (WAY better than having a bulk air mattress in my opinion, and much lighter)… and we normally don’t bring camping chairs when we go on our own but considering how much we miss them when we have a big group of people we decided to go buy some fancy Roots camping chairs with foot rests. Can’t wait to try them out. Allan’s not a big fan of how bulky and heavy they are in the car, but they will be nice to bring along every once in a while. We are also bringing our golf clubs so we can play 9 holes of golf at Long Beach Golf Course. Golf equipment + surf equipment + camping equipment = VERY full car.

We’ve also got tons of food, not to mention 40 strips of bacon from Granville Island (WOHOOO!), two coolers, a camp stove, a cast iron grill (a MUST for car camping cooking), lots of hoodies, my underwater camera case for my DSLR, my DSLR of course, and lots of supplies.

Food we will have there: Pacific Halibut, scallops, bacon, sausages, breakfast potatoes, everything you need to mix up Mojitos, lots of beer, cane sugar colas, tons of fruit, chocolate vegan cake, Uprising Breads, New Moon cookies, and tons of crackers and chips! I love food.

Not picture: 2 huge surfboards, also tons of wetsuits (bringing wetsuits to share with friends too)… I love my Roxy 5 mil wetsuit, but I bought Allan a new O’Neill Infiniti Drylock 5/4/3 for his birthday this year (a little early, his b-day is in July) and I have to say I am VERY jealous. It’s a darn nice wetsuit. Also pictured, lots of groceries, beach towels. And of course an absolute essential: TWILIGHT! Hahahaha.

Lots more not shown here, but you get the picture. It’s a full car.

Can’t wait to be out there for 8 days, hopefully our food lasts.

In other news, I booked my accommodations for Costa Rica! 3 nights at Paradisus Playa Conchal and then 4 nights in a villa rental on Langosta Beach (loved that beach when we stayed there last). Lots of time for surfing, relaxing, and hanging out on the beach. The weather: Humid, thunderstorms, sun, and rain. Just the way I like it.

Sadly, won’t have much time to blog in Tofino, but I’m looking forward to posting when I get back on July 6th! See you soon, and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

Happy Canada Day (believe it or not, this photo was taken with a friend at my Xbox 360 clan’s annual meetup. Yeah, Patron tequila is trouble)!

My life has been a whirlwind lately. So much to do and so little time. But it’s always like that, isn’t it?

A long weekend in Tofino was just what I needed. Fresh salty ocean air, surfing till my body hurts, sleeping in a tent close to the ground, nature walks, sleeping in, and cooking over the camp stove.

I haven’t been that relaxed in a long time. Probably not since the last time I was in Tofino

We took the ferry early Saturday morning (don’t even get me started about the ferries) and set up our campsite in the afternoon.

We headed immediately to Long Beach for a perfect glassy sunset surf session. It was the best session of the weekend. Quiet, deserted… the only two people in the water. Pink sky, looooooooong long longboard rides on the waist-shoulder waves, and a family of 3 HUGE sea lions that came out to say hi. We rode waves for about 2 and a half hours until we couldn’t see anymore, and till we were frozen.

Our campsite setup isn’t the bare minimal that it could be, but it’s definitely not the big hullabaloo that I’ve seen is possible.

We’ve got a TARN 3 MEC tent, surfboards on the car, a camping stove, head lamps, a cooler, and lots of food. We sleep on foam mats and thin MEC mats with our sleeping bags. I actually like being close to the ground and being so flat. Feels great on the back. Our biggest luxury is definitely the heavy cast iron grill we put on the camp stove. Despite the weight, it’s totally worth bringing it… we wouldn’t be able to hike with it but I looooove cooking on it when we can bring the car!

Grass along the path to Wickaninnish Beach.

We lay in the tent most of the day Sunday and listened to the rain, the wind, and the ocean for hours. So relaxing.

At night we headed to Long Beach again for another sunset surf session. Not as glassy, and there were way more people in the water (maybe about 20?)… but it was still awesome. I caught my best wave of the weekend… a shoulder high steep wave that I rode left for ages… it just kept reforming. Loved it. We surfed again till we were freezing and it was dark…

Despite our 5 mil suits, booties and gloves… the frigid waters of the Pacific always manage to wear us down at the end of a surf session. It’s not like Costa Rica where I could surf all day in the warm water. But Tofino and the Pacific will always have their charms…

I love how green and alive everything seems to grow around Tofino…

We definitely like our cooking and camping. I love to use lots of garlic and shallots to keep the immune system going out in the cold… here we are prepping our breakfast.

A true breakfast for surfers! Lots of bacon and protein… tons of carbs with the crispy fried Yukon Gold potatoes… topped with garlic, shallots and peppers.

For dinner we had Wild Pacific Halibut (from last year’s fishing trip in Tofino), panko breaded and grilled over the cast iron, topped with peppers and bacon… with pesto pasta.

Loved the water droplets on the pine surrounding these yellow flowers.

On the way out of Tofino we stopped by the Wick to see if anything was happening at that beach… didn’t look too bad for a low tide session, and there were about 20 people in the water. Wish we could have stayed and surfed but it was time to make it back to the ferries.

Ah the end of a long weekend… always so sad. It was cold and rainy heading back. Whenever we come back from Tofino I wish that Tofino was home. I could see myself living there for the rest of my days.

Well, back to work.

Back at work after a long weekend spent in Tofino. I have to say — I’m a little bit sunburnt, very sore, and I still haven’t had a chance to wash the salt of the ocean out of my hair yet. But I feel great!

Here are some photos from our trip…

We stopped by Second Wave and the Sitka store in North Vancouver last week… Allan is looking for a new surfboard. I’ve heard both bad and good things about the Sitka surfboards (because of where they are made, in South America even though they are a Victoria-based company)… but I was pleasantly surprised by their new designs this year. Looking good!

The new Sitka store in North Van has lots of clothing and their famous hoodies of course. I love my yellow Sitka hoodie! Their entire store is made from reclaimed or recyled materials! Go check it out.

After the long ferry fiasco on Thursday — Oh BC Ferries, you suck — we headed out on the long drive to Tofino. By now we are used to it, but I remember when I used to get car sick from the twists and turns and how long it felt. Now, I love it!

There was snow on the highway on the way to Tofino. Brrrr… an indication of cold things to come. Surfing while there’s snow still on the ground.

In Tofino, the park’s always hilarious (but useful) Wave Hazard sign alerted us that the waves were “EXTREME!”. It just meant big waves for us. This weekend definitely had some of the bigger waves I’ve surfed in Tofino in a long time. Or maybe it felt that way because I hadn’t been back in the water for a while.

I was really stoked to drop into about 3 of the biggest waves I’ve caught yet on Friday at Cox Bay. Cox was definitely going off. There were some really pro surfers in the water, so definitely intimidating, but I still had a great time. It was great riding down such a steep wave. Surprisingly good conditions for Tofino.

Saturday it got even bigger and we headed to Cox again, but the waves were a bit messy. I got pummeled quite a bit, but I managed to catch a couple waves. Need to work on those paddling muscles… snowboarding all season doesn’t help those And it was cold… I needed my winter suit (5 mil) with gloves, boots, and hood just to stay warm. I could only stay in about 2 hours before my feet and hands went numb. They didn’t thaw out until I got in the hot tub. It usually takes about 30 minutes before I start feeling pins and needles in them again…

We had a nice cabin rental in Tofino, which is always great this time of year when it is super cold. This is the view from the living room, you could also walk down a wooden bridge and get into the hot tub at the end, overlooking the inlet. Gorgeous!

The weekend was filled with cooking, playing Settlers of Catan, Taboo, and relaxing in the hot tub.

Kim brought her dog Kona out as well, and we also played with her quite a bit on Chesterman’s. Chesterman’s was a bit small and not very exciting surf-wise when we were there, so we just hung out on the beach.

I was surprised to see so many tourists with rental boards out so early in April!

Didn’t see too much wildlife… just a few birds here and there, and a seal in the ocean beside us. In the summers you can usually see deer, bears, and lots of water creatures.

Long Beach was also blown out, but you can kinda see what the waves looked like this weekend. A bit messy, big, but still surfable. Long Beach is my favourite beach to surf at in the summer.

I was also glad that the weather pulled a fast one and stayed sunny from Thursday to Saturday. Sunday it got a bit dreary and rainy but we really lucked out.

Spring is coming, and soon the surf trips will begin in earnest. I can’t wait.

In other news, the Canucks start their playoff series against St. Louis on Wednesday and I am very excited. One of our friends is a very big St. Louis fan so there’s a lot more invested in this series than just the Canucks! We have to slaughter them. Wednesday I will begin my jersey wearing until the Canucks are out of the playoffs.

Stinky jerseys, here I come!