Wickaninnish Inn

Alan had happened upon the Wickaninnish watching a travel program on great places to watch storms, featuring this part of Vancouver Island, between Ucluelet and Tofino. The Wick was a lovely, lovely resort and our room had a balcony overlooking the Pacific, as well as a fireplace, and what we agreed was the Best Bathtub Ever (complete with an ocean view). Too tired to even go outside, we once again had room service -- Alan a huge Dungenous crab and me a nice piece of salmon, sitting in front of our fireplace, listening to the ocean waves. While Alan picked through his crab, I read one the books provided in the room about a garden planted by "Cougar Annie," a long-time resident of Boat Basin, BC who had planted an extensive garden in the wilds of Hesquiat Harbor. Annie was a local legend, living through four husbands, eight children, and 70 years living in rural B.C.; she received her nickname for having shot and killed more than 70 cougars (one strategy was to use her goats as bait).

Up the next morning, we had breakfast in the gorgeous dining room with 180 degree views of the ocean. Breakfast was sumptuous -- Alan having yogurt and fruit, me oatmeal and fruit (could be called healthy except the portions were so huge!) -- and then we headed off for the complimentary nature walk. Jessie, our guide, took us through the rainforest trail on the property, identifying local plants and trees, and then onto the beach to look at the tide pools, which were filled with anemone and other small creatures. Jessie said she had grown up "petting" anemone and showed us how it was done.

In our room, there was a comments book filled out by previous tenants of room 215 and one of them had mentioned riding bikes into Tofino for lunch, which sounded just fine to us, so we signed the waiver forms (they seem to be everywhere these days -- I do wonder if they accomplish much) and hit the road for the 5km ride into town. We don't bike much, and these were the pedal brake kind of bikes, so they took a bit of getting used to but we made it. In town, ran into Margaret and Roger, visitors from Oxford, UK, who had been on the nature walk. Coincidentally, we all ended up lunching at the Sea Shanty, which promised seafood with a native flair. Not sure if curry was popular with the First Nation tribes, but the shrimp curry wrap was tasty nonetheless.

After lunch, we wandered through town, stopping into galleries and then one excellent bookstore, where I found a copy of Cougar Annie's Garden. We also signed up for a bear watching trip the following morning, committed to arising at 7am for the promise of seeing bears foraging at low tide. (Jessie had assured us that bear watching would be warmer than whale watching.)

Late afternoon found us wandering the beach in front of the Wick, enjoying in particular the vivid purple, orange, and pink starfish revealed by the low tide.