Vancouver Island Vacation Recommendations

[Murminator]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

But Tofino is a must in my mind.

J

AGREED !!! a must, drive there is cool to, except the rain
We parked our trailer in Nanaimo (living forest campground, ocean front ) and drove everywhere. The Island is very nice and a LOT of rain....I got in a argument with the campground owner about all the rain and told him REALLY needed to get the Island.....but thats a different story

I went to Campbell River .....no I didn't catch a big tyee went to the big dock and thats about it, nice little town rained there too. Would definatly go back.

We may go back next summer to Tofino we loved it there but Maybe stay at a resort this time

Victoria Craigrock(sp) castle, miniture world, the park (Queen Mary? or Elizabeth??) the docks for the cruise ships and just down the road there is a floating resturant (Think it had Newfie in the name) that has awesome fish and chips....gotta have F&C

I'll stop rambling now....Have fun

[Kabong]

Coming from Edmonton Rory you'll probably laugh that we even call Victoria a city.
So yeah it's pretty small and there lots of little shops and stuff to do.
You can wander around with no fear of getting mugged or anything

Tofino and Parksville are great for large sandy beaches.
But hey i know what you really want to see..... Tide pools!
Botanical beach is the place to check out.
http://www.portrenfrew.com/botbeach.htm
Its a long drive but can be done as a nice day trip from Victoria.
Even better if you spend the night in Sooke.
Just remember to check the tide table.
High tide = Bad
Low tide = good

[TheReefGeek]

Thanks for all the info guys!

Tide pools would be awesome, the wife likes marine stuff too.

I want to go diving while I am there too, anyone know of some good places to dive, and dive centers to use?

[Swags]

Do a night dive on Ogden Point Breakwater. Incredible is the only word I can think of. There is a dive center with showers and all you need right there too!
Cheers,
Phil

[TheReefGeek]

I did read about that one already, good to hear from someone in person though, thanks!

If I go down to victoria area I will for sure dive it.

[Jaws]

I've lived just about everywhere on Vancouver Island at one point and now I'm in Victoria. Tofino, like everyone else suggested, is a must. The rest depends on what you're looking for; Victoria is great and very well presented. I would probably say you could do Victoria in a day or two though. There's lots of shops and attractions around town to see. For nature Botanical Beach sounds great. Also Bamfield is a huge marine biology attraction. Do a google search and check it out. This place is considered to be one of the nicest attractions in the world if you can get there:

http://www.bigpacific.com/whattodo/princess.html

[TheReefGeek]

Thanks for the info Jason. Im thinking the island would be a pretty nice place to work and live!

We don't want to spend any time in shops or anything. We want to relax and read books, and do day-trips. I would like to do some diving along the way, go canoeing, hopefully go on a whale-watching tour, go bungee jumping in nanaimo, maybe do some caving. And we want to stay in full service cabins.