Expedition Canada

Thanksgiving in Tofino Tue Oct 11th Heading to Horseshoe Bay for the second ferry to Nanaimo You may have seen the videos of dogs on skateboards. Jack, being a fan of the water, decided to try surfing, albeit in the shallow surf.  Undeterred when knocked off into the water, he was straight back on. We spent the long Thanksgiving weekend in Tofino, the surfing capital of BC.  Two ferries and 200km made it a day’s travel to get there, and back.  Canada is big.   The route from Gibsons via the two ferries to Nanaimo, then across by road to Tofino There is no direct ferry from the Coast to Van Island. Van Island and the Coast are supplied and serviced from mainland BC, which acts as a hub, mainly because there is no commercial freight demand between the Coast and Van Island.   Personal travel is not sufficient to economically sustain a direct service, according to a BC Ferries crew member I spoke to.   So the 'hub and spoke' arrangement is an hour’s wait ...

Rain on Vancouver Island Sun May 8th   Vancouver Area Rainfall Chatting to some local friends yesterday they said, 'of course you know the area around the Sunshine Coast has a lot of micro-climates, the further south/east, the wetter it gets'.   Thinking about it and recalling how it could be raining in Marlborugh and sunny in Burbage I can understand how, with the prevalence of multiple mountain ranges here, this could be possible.   The prevailing winds are generally easterly, unlike Wiltshire's windy westerly's.  Similarly, the mountains behind us are often covered in cloud and rain, while the coast is bathed in sun.  The high mountain range on Vancouver Island usually has a bank of cloud above it, as the easterly's blow in diagonally across the Strait of Georgia, the water that separates the Sunshine Coast from Van Island, cools the air which forms cloud, rain and snow on 'them there hills'.   Interest piqued, what I found ...