Bear Necessi-Seas: Bear Boat Tour, Tofino

Tofino_Coast_small

Spotting a wild bear that’s roaming the neighborhood is exciting, and the Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks Team can cross that adventure off their list. (We presume the bear that neighbors have seen is still wandering our neighborhood and several others in the vicinity.) However, we’ve never spotted one by boat, so we headed out to Tofino to take a tour that featured scanning the shore for bears. Also, there might be orcas. So really, I took the boat tour, hoping for orcas. Or maybe even borcas—the rare crossbreed of bear/orca.

In any case, we had to first suit up like space explorers. The jumpsuits are supposed to keep you warm and dry if you fall into the frigid Canadian water—and, according to the tour guide, “You just kind of float there and chill until help arrives”—probably in the form of a bear, since bear sightings are guaranteed.

Then, we were whisked away in an open-air boat, wind whipping our eyeballs tearless—until we stopped to let a few harbor porpoises frolic within view, and they were super cute, but too fast for me to snap a photo. A few seals also popped their heads out to look around, but they didn’t stick around long enough for me to take their picture because they had too many seal things to do.

And then, someone spotted it: a bear, surrounded by six other tour boats. The bear was flipping rocks over to look for smaller crabs underneath them. It looked like a tiny speck of a thing, but the guide assured us it was a full-grown, real bear. This is the photo that I could take. I’m not sure if you can see the bear. I asked for one of Nate’s pictures, but it wasn’t much better. The photographers in our neighborhood caught some really good pictures of the neighborhood bear going right up to someone’s garage and poking its nose around, but if it flipped rocks to look for crabs—and if we had been in a boat—that might have really been something.

Bear

On the way back, we saw sea cucumbers and something that Nate identified as a “martin,” which was scurrying about the shore—probably hoping to dodge the bear.

All in all, it was a pleasant trip, and it was fun to take a spin around on a boat that wasn’t ours.

Also, during our trip to Tofino, Alex took a surfing lesson! He was able to get up on the board and enjoy the water, while Nate and I walked the beach, looking for orcas—and bears.

Alex_with-SurfboardAlex_Surfing

Your Turn: Have you taken a vacation this year? Where did you go?

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

19 thoughts on “Bear Necessi-Seas: Bear Boat Tour, Tofino”

  3. I love Tofino. Such gorgeous scenery and the beaches are fantastic (especially for surfing!).
    More bears than usual have been coming into towns to forage since their habitat has been damaged by fire; it can be tragic situation for them.
    Tofino waters aren’t very cold at the moment (although soaking in there a long time wouldn’t be helpful) but they’re going to be soon.
    We’re taking a Caribbean holiday in mid-Nov so ours is coming up still. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip. Cheers.

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    1. Tofino was wonderful! We had such a good time. We drove to the Vancouver/WA border, which is only a few hours from where we live, and we stayed in Victoria a few days (which is lovely)–and then off to Tofino–which I’m sure we’ll want to visit again. Have fun in the Caribbean!!!

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    1. We don’t really want the bear, but it has obviously run out of room to just be a bear, so it’s kind of sad. There’s definitely too much development here–too many buildings and houses. Tofino is in Canada–and it was lots of fun. The beach and Paris sound amazing!!!

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