“Destination: Tofino” (BC Magazine, Spring 2016)

Destination
tofino
A look at the past, present and future of Vancouver
Island’s hard-working west coast tourism town
“
Destination
B y D a v i d w e bb
tofino
Y
ou’re in the middle
of nowhere. No one is going to come here.”
When Tofino resident
Dr. Howard McDiarmid
proposed a high-end hotel on the shores of Chesterman Beach, this was
the general response.
It was the 1960s, and this west coast
hamlet was very different from what
we know today. There were no whalewatching tours. No surf schools. No
farm-to-table bistros. And definitely
no craft beer scene.
The coin has since flipped. In a few
decades, Tofino has grown from remote outport, to eco-tourism epicentre, to epicurean culinary destination
and premier vacation getaway. But one
thing hasn’t changed—it’s still in the
middle of nowhere.
From Vancouver, it had taken me nearly six hours by car and ferry to reach
Vancouver Island’s western shores and
the Wickaninnish Inn, an oceanfront
hotel that helped foster Tofino’s visitor-boom over the past 20 years. It’s
a foggy day, typical for the moody Pacific coast, and I’m here to uncover the
overarching mood of one of British Columbia’ most sought-out destinations.
Rich with opportunities to explore,
dine and rejuvenate, it begs the question: How did the Tofino of old become
the Tofino we know?
“We’ve had guests say to us,
wickaninnish inn
‘we live on the North Shore of Vancouver, and we have a choice—come to Tofino, or drive to the airport and in three
hours we can be in Phoenix or southern California,’” explains Charles McDiarmid, owner of the Wickaninnish
Inn. “It’s a wonderfully self-selective
destination. If you were looking for
An aerial view of the
Wickininnish Inn on North
Chesterman Beach.
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Destination
the easiest place to get to, Tofino would
not be it. Those who really want to be
here, make the effort to be here. Those
that don’t, well, they go to Las Vegas.”
When it comes to local tourism,
Charles is genealogically entrenched.
His father, Howard, moved here in
1955 as the town’s only physician and
with plans to leave for the big city as
soon as possible. However, he stayed,
and the McDiarmid family became inextricably entwined in Tofino’s destiny.
“[My father] ended up falling in love
with Tofino,” says Charles. The town
didn’t even have road access until
1959, and although some rustic accommodations came and went—Combers
Resort, Long Beach Bungalows, the
still-operating Maquinna Hotel—it
was hardly a “destination.” But, according to Charles, his father believed
Tofino would eventually become a
place that would attract a great number of travellers. And so he stayed on
as doctor—with hotelier ambitions in
the back of his mind, bolstered by his
experiences while working his way
through medical school as a bellhop at
the Banff Springs Hotel.
Tofino’s nascent tourism got a boost in
1964, when a trio of businessmen—Jeff
Crawford, Robin Fells and Joe Webb—
built the original Wickaninnish Inn on
Long Beach, an area now encompassed
by Pacific Rim National Park & Reserve. Regarded for its famous lounge,
well-heeled travellers would make the
trek from Vancouver to Tofino for a few
nights at the 12-room hotel. And another sect was showing up. Particularly on
summer holidays.
“Long Beach was turning into a bit
of a Coney Island,” explains Charles.
“There were 10,000 people on Long
Beach one May Long Weekend. No
bathrooms… they were all camping,
racing cars, doing donuts… It was
mayhem.” By the late ’60s, a counterculture commune of hippies, dropouts, artists and draft-dodgers had
also moved into nearby Florencia Bay.
In the face of this, Howard realized the
ecological integrity of this area needed
greater protection. After successfully
running as an MLA under the Social
Credit government of W.A.C Bennett,
Howard worked with the Feds—including a young Jean Chretien, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern
Development (the cabinet responsible
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for parks)—and became the primary
agitator within the government to get a
national park in place.
Pacific Rim National Park was formed
in 1971, Canada’s first national park
west of the Rockies. According to
Charles, his father had a handshake
deal with Chretien to ensure the original Wickaninnish Inn could stay open,
and those people who currently lived
within the park could remain there
for life. However, the cabinet shuffled
and, without a paper trail, the original
Wickaninnish was closed and residents were given their walking papers.
The highway was paved in 1972 and
the new park opened up the area to
summertime camping but, while there
were some rustic cottages and lodgings, developing Tofino as a true international tourism destination still
seemed far-fetched. With its remote
location and July and August as the
only established visitor season, fullservice hotels just didn’t seem viable.
Undeterred, at least in spirit, Howard
bought the rights to the name “Wickaninnish Inn,” as well as large parcels
of land he had been acquiring along
Chesterman Beach. The years floated
by like West Coast mist.
In 1982, a man named Jamie Bray
opened Jamie’s Whaling Station—the
first commercial whale watching operation in Tofino.
“Guess what? Whale watching starts
in March,” says Charles. “Eventually
people started coming out in March,
April, May and they’d say, ‘wow, this is
really beautiful.’” A year later, Weigh
West (now Marina West) opened its
doors to travelling sport anglers, increasing visitation. A year after that,
Live to Surf, Tofino’s first surf-shop, lit
its open sign. The tourism beast was
peaking from its cage.
At the same time, Charles was a career-man with Four Seasons Hotels
& Resorts. While stationed in Seattle,
he wrote a business plan for the new
Wickaninnish Inn—a hypothetical
high-end property set on a plot of family land on North Chesterman Beach.
“We were land rich and cash poor,”
says Charles. His family owned all
the waterfront on Chesterman Beach,
most of which they gradually sold over
the years to pay the property taxes. In
1992, while determining what to do
with one of their last major holdings
TOP: Jeremy Koreski/wickininnish inn; bottom left and right: david webb
on the beach, Howard suggested they
subdivide it, split the money up among
the family and, “each do our own
thing.”
The family rebelled. They wanted to
build a hotel.
“He got outvoted,” laughs Charles.
The McDiarmid patriarch first conceded only to build a motel—hotels needed restaurants, and he didn’t want to
delve into that game in a town with
such little tourism. But his son wasn’t
about to leave a promising career at
the Four Seasons to run a motel.
“If we could build a Relais & Chateau property, I would be interested,”
says Charles. With Howard and the
rest of the family onboard, Charles secured investors and they broke ground
on September 26, 1995, opening the
Wickaninnish Inn—nicknamed “The
Wick”—on August 9, 1996. Although
Tofino had recently received a bump
in visitorship following an international spotlight shone on the Clayoquot
Sound logging protests of 1993—at the
time, Canada’s largest-ever act of civil
disobedience—August was still the
end of the season. Guests just weren’t
showing up, and they couldn’t wait
until the following summer to refill
their coffers.
“As family, we would get together
out there for holidays… when we were
there in the wintertime we always
hoped there would be a big storm,”
says Charles. “It’s Mother Nature
putting on this amazing show. Giant
waves crashing on the rocks, here you
are, nice and warm in your cabin, looking out at it all. And we thought—maybe there are other people, half-crazy
like we are, who might enjoy this.”
So they promoted their 46-room
oceanfront hotel as the most amazing
winter storm watching location between the Baja and Alaska. By February, thanks to favourable press in the
Vancouver Sun, the phones were ringing off the hook. Tofino’s four seasons
of tourism had officially begun. The
rush of guests to The Wick were encouraged to connect with Tofino’s
Top: The wintertime storm watching in
Tofino is spectacular. Bottom Left: The
official vehicle of Tourism Tofino. Bottom
Right: A growler for Tofino Brewing
Company beer at Rhino Coffee House.
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Destination
The Pointe Restaurant at
Wickaninnish Inn. Right:
Locally roasted beans at
Rhino Coffee House.
operators and eateries, supporting
and cultivating local businesses with a
new influx of year-round cash. Charles
called his dad, who was on vacation in
Mexico at the time.
“I think we have a tiger by the tail.”
Word got out. Twenty years later,
few people need convincing to come to
Tofino—any time of year. As Dr. Howard McDiarmid predicted, the gorgeous
natural ecosystem nowadays lures travellers from around the globe.
Such natural beauty is on display as
my wife, Erin, and I wander from The
Wick to comb the shoreline of North
and South Chesterman beaches. A
two-hour walk leads past misty redcedar and Sitka spruce on one side and
pounding Pacific waves on the other. In
the intertidal zone, we explore weatherbeaten rocks crusted with gooseneck
barnacles, fist-sized mussels and sea
anemones as large as grapefruit.
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For eons, this rich land has sustained
populations of some of the world’s largest black bears, a unique subspecies of
fish-eating wolf, soaring seabirds and
raptors, lumbering California and Stellar sea lions, leviathan whales from orcas to humpbacks and forest creatures
ranging from Roosevelt elk to garter
snakes. For 10 millennia, coastal First
Nations have called this land home.
Ahousat, a boat-access community
north of Tofino, is one of the oldest
top: Anthony Redpath/Wickaninnish inn; bottom: david Webb
settlements on the coast. There’s an ancient Aboriginal saying: “When the tide
is out, the table is set.” This biosphere
holds a bounty; sustenance for every
creature, great and small.
Such a lush ecosystem services ecotourism, which began with whale
watching, before surfing took hold
in the 1990s. Having since hosted international surf competitions like the
O’Neill Coldwater Classic, and produced world-class pro-riders like Peter
Devries and the Bruhwiler clan, surfing
is nowadays synonymous with Tofino.
While the first surf-comp was held here
in 1966, and Live to Surf opened its
doors more than 30 years ago—operators like Storm, Pacific Surf School and
Surf Sister cemented the reputation nationwide in the mid- to late-1990s.
The ’90s was also the era when I first
attempted to surf west coast waves. Two
decades later, I’ve connected with Pacific Surf School to finally take a lesson
on these same shores. Instructor Allan
Pearson meets me at The Wick my first
morning to attempt to correct years
of bad habits in a three-hour clinic on
North Chesterman Beach.
“Come out here for three days, every
three months, you’ll get good,” encourages Pearson, after imparting pop-up
and paddle technique throughout the
morning. His attitude exemplifies much of what we
find in Tofino—locals are
stoked (to use local vernacular) to show off their home.
Surfing begot kayaking
and stand-up paddleboarding. Kayakers put-in at
nearby Ucluelet to explore
the Broken Islands Group,
or paddle right from downtown Tofino to meander into
the broken islets of Clayoquot Sound. And the Tofino
Paddlesurf SUP Invitational
tournament has drawn a
crowd to Cox Bay for the
past two Octobers. Hiking, interpretive rainforest
walks, sport fishing—it’s all here. Lately,
though, Tofino has developed its great
indoors as well.
When the Wickaninnish Inn opened
The Pointe Restaurant in 1996, highend dining was novel for Tofino. When,
in 2014, Wolf in the Fog—owned by
Nick Nutting, former head chef at The
Pointe—was voted Canada’s Best New
Restaurant by En Route magazine, few
people were surprised. With an abundance of local seafood and foraged
fare from salal berries to chanterelle
mushrooms, plus access to Vancouver
Island farm producers and Okanagan
wines—and the requisite four-season
visitorship to feed restaurateurs’ creativity—Tofino is well-positioned to be
a culinary destination.
“Tofino is a very entrepreneurial
town… You see all the surf shops, restaurants and everything else; there is a
plethora of wonderful, small entrepreneurs in Tofino, and I think we’ve had
a hand in that,” says Charles. “Today, in
a town of 2,000 people, I think we have
500 business licenses.”
After a day spent out-of-doors, it’s
easy to spend another indoors. Starting with a semi-private yoga class
and steam-session at the Ancient Cedars Spa (which my wife described as
“wholly relaxing, personal and mindful”), rich espresso and house-made
donuts await at Rhino Coffee House.
Lunch options include Shelter—the
Tofino Surf Bowl is a local fave, or just
order the special—and Sobo. The latter
is a casual eatery with hearty, healthy
fare—their deconstructed take on a
chicken enchilada kept me satiated until a late supper. And options for an evening meal are equally plentiful. Wolf in
the Fog is famous for their oysters and
octopus. The Pointe is set within sprayrange of the Pacific, where local seafood
or meat is paired with wines served in
a glass specific to each varietal and suggested by a sommelier-level server. The
night ends with a glass of hop-forward
Tuff Session Ale from Tofino Brewing
Company, best enjoyed, as we discover,
in an oceanfront room with the waves
as your soundtrack.
It’s easy to forget that Tofino is
a relatively new destination when compared to standards like Victoria, Vancouver or even Whistler. So what will
the next 20 years look like?
“I don’t think the character of Tofino
will change. Yes, we will become more
popular… but the biggest building you
can build in Tofino is three storeys with
a basement. We’re not talking a likelihood that Chesterman Beach is going
to turn into Waikiki,” says Charles. As
for The Wick, Charles aims to always
maintain Relais & Chateau status,
which means a 100-room maximum.
(They’re at 75 today.)
“So many destinations, popular ones,
have become a victim of their own success—they have the same Gucci stores
and Starbucks,” says Charles. “You can
have a coffee without it being Star-
bucks, you can have a great restaurant
that’s not The Cactus Club—and I think
Tofino epitomizes that through our entrepreneurial base. Maybe we’re not big
enough to attract these brands to make
high-volume year-round, and my hope
is that trend will continue for Tofino.”
The town is receiving fibre-optic
hardline connections this spring, and,
soon, night lighting at the airport
QUICK
INFO
Getting There
The most common route from
Vancouver to Tofino is a BC
Ferries ride from Horseshoe
Bay (Vancouver) to Departure
Bay (Nanaimo); a 2.5-hour
drive via Highway 19 and
Highway 4 leads to Tofino.
bcferries.com; drivebc.ca
Orca Airways’ new Beech
99 transports Tofino-bound
travellers from Vancouver
International Airport South
Terminal to Tofino Airport with
unparalleled speed—just 45
minutes gate-to-gate. $175
one way; flyorcaair.com
Info
tourismtofino.com
tourismvi.com
(complementing $2.8 million in recent
upgrades), which may invite a small influx of telecommuters. Today’s intrepid
operators are selling products from
luxury-camping in Clayoquot Sound,
to foodie tours, to Aboriginal cultural
experiences, to helicopter flightseeing.
But no matter how popular the town
becomes, Tofino will always be a place
to escape. As Charles maintains,“We’re
still a very small town at the end of a
very long road.”
B.C. wines suggested by
a sommelier-level server.
For a more casual bite or
drink while at The Wick, or
just coffee or lunch to-go,
head downstairs to the
Driftwood Café. wickinn.
com/pointe-restaurant
The award-winning cuisine
at Wolf in the Fog is influenced by the ecosystems
around Tofino—expect
sumptuous local seafood
and foraged fare, all fivestar. wolfinthefog.com
Fuel up for the afternoon at
Shelter; their Tofino Surf
Bowl and other tasty locavore fare will give you ample
energy for that late-day hike.
shelterrestaurant.com
Start your day at Rhino
Coffee House with a
decadent Americano and
a house-made donut or
breakfast wrap. rhinocoffeehouse.com
Sleep
With walkout access to
North Chesterman Beach,
all-oceanfront rooms and
impeccable rainforest-themed
design, the Wickaninnish
Inn is Tofino’s premier hotel.
wickinn.com
With a long list of local and
regional suppliers, Sobo
is where Tofino locals go
for lunch. Expect healthy,
hearty, warm-you-from-theinside food. sobo.ca
Reserve a site early at Pacific
Rim National Park’s Green
Point Campground; a scenic drive-to camping area with
brand-new washroom/shower
houses to enhance your stay.
pc.gc.ca/pacrim
Home to tasty chocolates flavoured with lavender, honey,
blackberries, maple syrup
and more—plus locallyadored gelato—Chocolate
Tofino is a must-visit.
chocolatetofino.com
Eat
Savour supper at The Pointe
Restaurant. Dishes such
as local sablefish, salmon
or snapper are paired to
Firmly entrenched in
B.C.’s craft beer revolution, Tofino Brewing
Co. makes tasty ales and
lagers—available in bottles
and growlers or in a pint
glass at the tasting room.
tofinobrewingco.com
Play
Pacific Surf School
offers group, one-on-one,
private group and family
surf lessons, as well as
two-day camps, throughout
the year. Quality surfboard
and wetsuit rentals are also
available. Lessons from $80
per person; rentals from
$20. pacificsurfschool.com
Atleo River Air Service
offers year-round heliflightseeing tours, as well
as heli-hiking and wilderness drop-offs (seasonal).
Heli-tours include remote
touchdowns for an active
experience. From $200 per
person. atleoair.com
Storm Watching—in late
fall, winter and early spring,
just pick a beach and wander. Bring your rain gear or
check if your hotel has onloan rubbers and venture
onto the sand, marveling at
not only the powerful waves
but also the sideways rain
and lean-into wind.
Tofino Botanical
Gardens Wander through
five hectares of rainforest
gardens, sculptures and
interpreted natural and
cultural history. Eat and
stay onsite. tbgf.org
Ancient Cedars Spa
offers intimate, five-person
(maximum) yoga classes, a
variety of treatments in their
seaside spa and a relaxing
steam cave. wickinn.com/
ancient-cedars-spa
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