The ocean waves roll and crash all around me, like cracks of thunder. It’s mind-boggling that something so clamorous and violent could feel so peaceful. And not just for me: hundreds of sleep apps would agree, the sound of crashing waves is as calming as it gets.
My quest to find the best knock-em-down, drag-em-out storm waves in Canada has brought me to Tofino, the tiny village of roughly 2,000 people on Clayoquot Sound, as far west as you can drive on Vancouver Island. Tofino has been able to make a success of celebrating a season called “storm watching,” a period between November and March where the rainy winter weather gets particularly wild.
There are a couple of reasons for this meteorological phenomenon. The storms usually originate in the Aleutian Low, a semi-permanent low-pressure system near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska. As one of the largest atmospheric weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere, the low intensifies here, developing rapidly falling pressures and strengthening winds that result in howling gales by the time they reach Tofino. Secondly, there’s no land mass between Tofino and Japan to break the waves, which can roll in up to six metres in height.
To make the most of my storm-watching experience, I’m staying at the Wickaninnish Inn. A family-owned property, the Inn’s lovely cedar buildings are miraculously perched on a rocky point, with each of the 75 rooms facing towards the ocean or the beach.
The stormy weather is certainly cooperating. It’s raining hard, and the wind is howling. Determined to feel the salty sea spray on my face, I’ve donned a bright yellow rain jacket, pants and boots. An umbrella won’t help much with the blowing wind; it’s “raining sideways,” as the locals like to say.
Chesterman Beach is Tofino’s longest. This beach is a driftwood graveyard and several driftwood sculptures and shelters built by industrious beach lovers are scattered along the 2.5-kilometre white sand paradise, like bony epitaphs. The tide is going out, and I aimlessly wander, exploring the tide pools to find seaside treasures – mussels covered with white knobby barnacles, purple starfish, pin-cushiony sea urchins.
A favoured winter activity is hunting for elusive Japanese floats, hollow glass balls once used by fishermen to keep their nets afloat. It’s rare for these floats to wash ashore and usually only with certain tides, like the “blue tide,” when the tiny gelatinous sea creatures, called by-the-wind sailors, wash up after particularly strong winds. That’s not the case today, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping an eye out.
In the relative dryness under a cedar canopy, I stop to sit on a log and watch as two women expertly tote their surf boards into the water and quickly paddle out. These daring souls have one objective in mind: catch the perfect wave. Even though there’s only a two-degree ocean temperature change between winter and summer in this part of the Pacific Ocean, they have on full-body wetsuits, including peaked hoods.
Really, it’s hard not to see surfers in Tofino. In the ’60s, Tofino became a hippie haven, which sowed the seeds for the surf culture that has now put it on the map as Canada’s biggest and most popular surf hangout. World surf competitions like the Rip Curl Pro or the Surf Canada Pro Nationals are regularly hosted here.
The Rainforest Beach trail loops back to the Inn, through moss-covered undergrowth, waist-high lacy ferns and hundreds-of-years’-old western cedars, Sitka spruce and hemlock. The Wick was built with as much environmental consciousness as possible, from trees on the property, recycled wood and blow downs.
The wood in Tofino is also revered and celebrated by the region’s woodcarvers and artists, like Henry Nolla, who had a carving shed on the Wick’s property. Nolla, a mentor for generations of West Coast woodcarvers, completed much of the adze work in the Inn, including the remarkable yellow cedar entrance doors that depict two ravens holding the door handles in their talons. Even though Nolla died in 2004, his carving shed has continued as studio space and gallery, where visitors can view carvers at work and some stunning art.
The next morning, I’m scheduled with Jamie’s Whaling Station for a boat trip to nearby Hot Springs Cove. A trip to soak in this natural geothermal hot springs pool in nearby Maquinna Marine Provincial Park has been on my radar for years. But unfortunately, great storm-watching doesn’t make for great boating, and Jamie has decided to call off the trip due to turbulent waters. On a less rough day and when the rain and low-hanging clouds don’t obscure visibility, you are likely to see copious wildlife from the boat, like bears eating on shore, and sea animals like otters, seals, and even humpback whales and orcas.
Instead, I can head to the Tofino town centre to wander the gift shops and art galleries, like that of Roy Henry Vickers, the world-renowned Canadian First Nations artist. Or maybe I’ll just flip on the gas fireplace in my room and curl up on the settee, which is positioned for maximum viewing pleasure, with balcony doors cracked open, to watch the waves smashing into the rocks in the cove below. I’ll keep the binoculars close by to follow the seabirds diving and dancing into the stormy winds.
IF YOU GO:
Tourism info: https://tourismtofino.com/
Wickanninish Inn: https://www.wickinn.com/
Jamie’s Whaling Station & Adventure Centres: https://www.jamies.com/
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