Long Beach on Vancouver Island's West Coast

Another one of the places we used to vacation on Vancouver Island, prior to becoming RV'ers, was Long Beach on the west coast of the Island. Long Beach lies between the two villages of Tofino and Ucluelet and is famous for the long sandy beaches of Schooner Cove, Wickaninnish, Cox and Florencia Bays. We are definitely going to be trying it again soon in our 5th wheel!

An early morning walk along Long Beach on Vancouver Island


The last time we vacationed at Long Beach was in 2001, well before we bought our fifth-wheel in 2006, so we rented a cabin right on the beach at Cox Bay. It was a beautiful spot, nestled in the trees, with a spectacular view of both the sandy beach and the Pacific Ocean.

Our cabin on the beach at Cox Bay near Long Beach


Cox Bay was right on the doorstep of our cabin - just a few feet away


The whole area - Tofino, Long Beach and Ucluelet are all part of the Pacific Rim National Park which takes up a good chunk of Vancouver Island's west coast. This national park is actually made up of three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. It is an extremely popular spot for RV'ers, campers, hikers, kayakers, fishing and all kinds of other outdoor activities.

Map of the Long Beach Unit of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve


One of the highlights of each day was watching the sunset at Cox Bay. There are several great vantage points to do this. Our favorite was a park bench on a rock jutting out over the water. We also had a great view of the sunset right from the front porch of our cabin. For the adventuresome, there are lots of paths that can take you out to a few cliffs and high rocks as well.

This bench on a high rock was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset


Sunset - one of the most beautiful times of the whole day at Long Beach


The town of Tofino has reinvented itself as a very popular tourist destination. While fishing and logging are still big, tourism has taken over as the biggest industry in the area. Some of the favorite pastimes are whale-watching tours, sea-kayaking, scenic water cruises, surfing and many more outdoor activities.

Fishing boats docked in the harbor at Tofino, B.C.


On a completely different note, if you ever get the desire to travel to Canada's far north - and, I mean far north like 200 miles beyond the Arctic Circle, then you should check out a fellow blogger who is up there now - Wandering Willy. Be sure to read his last 3 or 4 days of posts for some great stories and pictures of Dawson City and Whitehorse up in the Yukon. It's great stuff and a real inspiration to those of us who mostly travel on nice paved roads!!