Sketchbooks and Sandbanks- Adventures in Tofino
I fell in love with Tofino on my first visit to Vancouver Island back in 2009. It’s a surf town with an artsy edge, close to windswept beaches which just beg to be painted, keeping me and my watercolours busy for weeks! There are beautiful anchorages, and although it’s a tourist hub, there’s so much space that it’s easy to get away from the crowds to create.
The sail north from Ucluelet to Tofino only takes a few hours- though the route is open to the swells of the Pacific. I was soon reminded that my sea legs weren’t as sturdy as they could be! The waves caught Island Prism from the side, setting up an unpleasant rolling motion. I managed a quick sketch of Amphitrite lighthouse before I gave up trying to make art, choosing instead to watch the ocean smashing against rocky headlands and breaking along the sweeping expanses of sand that make up Pacific Rim National Park.
It was quite a relief to approach our destination, though the current-swept channel gave us a new challenge. Water flows fast past the Tofino docks, and ever-shifting sand banks regularly embarrass incoming boaties who find themselves stuck until the next high tide. There’s a saying that there are two sorts of sailors- those who have run aground, and those who are liars. So I should probably confess that whilst I was helming. Prism’s keel gently glided onto the infamous Strawberry Sandbank. Thankfully a fishing boat was passing at just the right time- he took a line from our stern, gave us a tug and we were soon off the sand and on our way to the Crab Street Dock. I’m pretty sure nobody else noticed (shhh- secret squirrel)!
The next few days were spent exploring Pacific Rim National Park. Each day we hopped on our bikes and peddled out to one of the beaches where I could peer into tide pools, walk and sketch. The haze thrown up by the surf creates a magical, dreamy atmosphere, enhanced by swirling mists and moments of glorious sunshine. I experimented with different techniques to recreate the light and the power of the surf- I wanted to show the scale of the waves and suggest the backing track of thundering water that always accompanies a visit to these beaches! Working loosely was most effective, whether I was using pen or paint. Speedy sketching gave an extra sense of energy to the drawing. Watercolours helped me to catch the translucent colours of the waves, especially when the light shone through the cresting water. I grew increasingly impressionistic, letting colours run together and blur. The softness recreated some of that beautiful haziness, and when my brush skipped over the textured paper, it added a sense of sparkling light dancing over water.
After a week in town, we left the dock and sailed to Cannery Bay, where we anchored near the Kennedy River. We took the dinghy up the river until we reached the rapids. Eagles used the treetops as lookouts, kingfishers dived for small fish and a bear ambled through a grassy meadow. We tucked in to a sheltered pool so I could draw the whirling waters of the rapids, then entered the flow of the river and let the current carry us back to the anchorage as we sat quietly and looked out for wildlife.
Quait Bay was quaint and quiet, whilst Ahous was tide-swept and magical. Looking out to the Pacific, the swell tended to sneak in to our anchorage late in the evening, just around bedtime. This made getting to sleep difficult, but it was worth enduring a few late nights. Sea otters made their homes in the kelp beds and a grey whale cruised past one afternoon. There were white shell beaches and long stretches of golden sand to explore, and every rock was encrusted with anemones, chitons and seaweed in every colour of the spectrum, including rainbow weed which shimmers an iridescent blue as the light plays across it.
Whilst the rolly anchorage didn’t help my sleep pattern, apparently it was just what my sea legs needed. When we upped anchor and continued north, my sailing mojo was back. It was a good thing too- our full day voyage to Nuchatlitz was a bumpy one, with driving rain, big swells and a squall that made us happy to reach the labyrinthine entrance to the anchorage where we could light the stove and dry off.
