Leg 1, Day 5- Effingham to Tofino

Rise and shine everyone! Today we lift anchor and head to Tofino, about a 6 hour cruise north across Barkley Sound and along the beautiful west coast of Vancouver Island. We un-rafted around 8 am with absolutely no problems, we are all seasoned rafters at this point in the trip! There was surprisingly little conversation, but I suppose people were still feeling the effects of the jalapeños, chili and margaritas from last night. Shortly after we left Effingham Bay, Casey spotted several spouts in the distance ahead… could it be? Again, there again were a few more spouts… it must be! We’ve spotted our first whales!

As we cruised along, we were able to get a close enough look at one of the whales which was fluking, to identify it as a gray whale. It was likely one of around 100 gray whales that are resident to the Tofino area. The vast majority of gray whales migrate from the Baja Peninsula in Mexico all the way to the Bering Sea each summer to feed, but these animals stop once they reach Tofino. Unfortunately, the other whales we saw that day were too far to identify, but judging by the height and shape of their blows, Casey thought they were likely humpback whales. Hopefully this was the first of many whale encounters this summer!

We casually made our way into Tofino where we were able to dock at the far end of town. Tofino is host to many great restaurants with a unique flare and the town itself offers some quaint little shops and café. A large harbor seal spent the evening swimming around our boats, a little curious about these newcomers. Several of the boats tossed crab pots of their sterns in hopes of catching some rock crab; many made a good haul but all ended up being thrown back. As the sun set we watched as high tide flooded in and made several islands that were right in front of us disappear. We’re beginning to get used to these relaxing evenings and starting to really appreciate where we were in the world and the absence of the chaotic world we left behind.