Gnarly waves and tubular tacos
Tofino, British Columbia (Vancouver Island)
Moseyed around the camper this morning to make sure we had all the energy possible before our surf lessons
Stopped at Tofino Surf School to pick up our wetsuits; put them on over our bathing suits and met our instructor, Brett, at Cox Bay Beach; he and his girlfriend, Chelsea, were running a little late - when they arrived, they sorted out the surf boards and we carried them down to the beach; there were several groups from Tofino Surf School and other shops around town - you could tell by the brightly colored shirts that each class donned over their identical black wetsuits
Brett spent the first 45 minutes with us going over basic ocean safety (how to avoid riptides, etc.) and a step-by-step land demonstration before we hit the waves; we got in the water, anticipating an overwhelming salty spray, waded until it was about waist deep and caught our first waves; they were only about two feet tall and surfable waves came inconsistently every couple of minutes… we had a blast; it was fairly easy to get up (felt a lot like wake surfing) when the waves were big enough, we paddled fast enough and there weren’t other surfers in our way; we surfed for a couple of hours and then we collected our official graduation stickers and returned our gear for the day
Then… it was time for tacos! After our first failed attempt at Tacofino, our expectations were low. We waited in line (and arrived at the right time as the line grew significantly behind us) - the anticipation and excitement kept building as we got closer to the food truck window; Oslo was in the truck watching from his half lowered window when a few young kids from Hawaii started taunting him with fake growls and barks - Oslo barked back and Matt had to intervene to teach the kids how to behave around dogs
Our Tacofino order consisted of fish tacos, crispy chicken tacos, pork (and kimchi) gringas, beef tacos and a pink lemonade freshie and choco-banana hybrid milkshake smoothie - it was love at first bite and definitely lived up to all the hype
As we waited for our food, we met a nice couple from Hawaii (Maui) that we’re headed to Banff after Tofino
We went back to camp with big smiles and full bellies and took Oslo for a walk along the beach
Campground: Crystal Cove Beach Resort
