January 18, 2015: Havin' a Romp On The Beach

There's nothing like following up an active, fun day of surfing with a slightly mellower day of cozying up to a tasty lunch and then chilling on the beaches of Tofino!

It was a typical, soggy and cool January day in Tofino but we made the best of it with delicious lunch at a wonderful new restaurant, Wolf In The Fog. It was very affordable and deeelicious! Not only was the food good but locally sourced; I love the fact the creator's of the restaurant are inspired by their "...love of fishing and foraging in our backyard – the beautiful oceans, shorelines and forests of Tofino, British Columbia". Wonderful!

With our bellies full and feeling very satisfied we headed to the beach to play in the drizzle alongside the surf. Oh and there's something to be said about having a dog in your company...I think I can safely say the playfulness of a dog, in this case Holly's friend's dog Iggy, certainly helps brighten a drizzly, gray day :)

January 17, 2015: Gettin' Stoked In Tofino :)

How lucky for me that, at the last minute, my good friend Holly invited me to join her and her friends from Nanaimo to go to Tofino this weekend! I immediately jumped at the opportunity especially because the plan was to go surfing, which I am trying to practice more and more, despite how difficult it is and the fact I have to go at it a little gingerly given my history of kneecap dislocation (bleh!). I know I won't ever be an amazing surfer but for me it's about getting in the water to learn more about the waves and the ocean, move my body (paddle, paddle, paddle!), play with friends...and even, occasionally, catching a wave!

We had an awesome time surfing much of Saturday only quitting when some of us started to feel the cold. Lucky for me I had bought a nice, cozy wet suit and booties last year and I was so snug and warm I could've stayed in the water all day! Of course, I also had to stop because you can only paddle and crash around in the waves for so long before you start to feel the exhaustion set in. As well, when I was at a surf camp in Colombia in December I'd tweaked my shoulder and it was still not 100% so I decided it would be wise to quite before I re-injured it.

After our fun surf session I was exhausted but the post-surf exhaustion is one of the best feelings ever...especially if it's followed by a delicious lunch at Tacofino :)

My surfing buddies for the weekend

Getting ready to hit the water...stretching and practicing pop ups is important!

Playing in the wash

View from a surfboard :)

Catching some waves!

Wash rolling in

Popping up

January 11, 2015: Volunteering on Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island's monthly beach clean at China Beach, southern Vancouver Island :)

This morning, rather than the driving along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island to scan for whales and other marine mammals, my friend and I decided to volunteer on one of the monthly beach cleans organised by the Vancouver Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Every month the chapter holds a beach clean at one of the beaches along the Vancouver Island coast and today we were helping collect garbage around China Beach Provincial Park, on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island, about a two hour drive from Victoria.   

The event was well organised and fun and even included snacks! Everybody who volunteered for this month's beach clean met at the China Beach Park parking lot where Surfrider coordinators distributed gloves and re-usable bags for us (I was impressed they kept the plastic bag use to a minimum!)  to use for collecting the garbage. Once we had our gloves on and bags in hand we headed down the beach and the roughly 40-50 of us spread out in all directions to pick up as much garbage we could find. 

Interestingly, individually it didn't feel like there was much garbage to collect, but when we combined it together in a pile at the end of the beach clean, about an hour later, we had collected quite a pile of garbage and it was great to see that we played a small part in helping get it off the beach. This was definitely a fine example of a time when "many hands make for light work"!  

Trees towering over an outhouse at China Beach Provincial Park

It was a gorgeous day, but definitely not a surfing day, at
China Beach Provincial Park

Surfrider volunteers scouring for garbage at China Beach Provincial Park

There was lots of styrofoam on the beach

Surfrider volunteers heading back to sort the garbage picked up during the beach clean at China Beach Provincial Park

Surfrider volunteers heading back to sort the garbage picked up during the beach clean at China Beach Provincial Park

Surfrider volunteers heading back to sort the garbage picked up during the beach clean at China Beach Provincial Park

How to dress right for a beach clean! Don't forget your smile :) (Yes, I know...very cheezy, ha ha!)

Surfrider volunteers sorting the garbage picked up during the beach clean at China Beach Provincial Park

Surfrider volunteers sorting the garbage picked up during the beach clean at China Beach Provincial Park

This is why we hate balloons....bad, bad plastic pollution ending up in beaches everywhere!

A Bald Eagle (Halieaeetus leucocephalus), one of our coastal residents who must live with our plastic waste