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travel / adventure zone
| The Adventure Zone |
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| Photo: Mark Hobson |
In the Eye of the Storm
Witnessing Mother Nature's fury unfold on Vancouver Island
By Christopher Mason
The weather outside Bill McIntyre’s oceanfront home in Ucluelet, British Columbia
is calm today. But the two-plus tonne navigational buoy resting on the rocks within
view of his front window is a stark reminder of the power of the magnificent storms
that can be but a gust of wind away from igniting powerful swells, horizontal, pounding
rain and wind that can knock over a grown man with the ease of a breeze blowing through
a fallen leaf.
"That buoy was a permanent navigational fixture a mile or so out from shore
and the last storm threw it right up in front of our house," McIntyre says. "We
often joke about the ‘marine bling’ you find on shore after a storm like
that."
What was once a down season for the residents of the two coastal communities, Ucluelet
and Tofino, that bookend Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island has become
a second boom season as more visitors come to see winter storms first-hand. The first
winter storms usually arrive in the middle of October but the "hardcore" storm
season begins in December and runs through February.
McIntyre was a naturalist in the park from the early 1970s until 1998 when he retired
to run a bed and breakfast and lead year-round nature tours.
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Photo: Bill McIntyre
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"We were the second B&B in Ucluelet and now there are 50," McIntyre
says, illustrating the phenomenal growth that summer surfing, spectacular views,
a nearby rainforest and winter storm-watching has brought to the region.
McIntyre led storm tours during his years working for the park but in the mid-1990s
he began leading private tours as resorts in the area attracted more and more storm
watchers.
That growth has been encouraged by improved transportation routes to the area. It
used to be that travelers flew in to Vancouver, rented a car, drove south to the
ferry terminal, took the ferry across to Vancouver Island and drive several hours
to Ucluelet and Tofino. But Comox, a community on the island that is closer to the
region than Victoria where there is also an airport, now has an airport that allows
travelers to fly directly to the island and drive from there.
With the growing popularity of storm-watching McIntyre says he finds more people
are learning about the phenomenon as an ideal winter trip. But no matter how many
pictures of the storms first-time visitors saw before making the trip they are equally
awed by seeing the power of the storms unfold before their very eyes.
"People just fall silent and then they remember to pull out their cameras to
snap photos, but the pictures never do justice to the experience" McIntyre says. "The
waves are heaving, the wind is trying to knock you over, the spray hitting you in the
face. It’s like going to sea without getting seasick."
Links:
Comox Valley Airport
Check out Long Beach Nature Tours run by experienced tour guide Bill McIntyre
Wild Pacific Trail offers great storm views and hiking
Tourism Tofino has accommodation and travel information to the region
The Wickaninnish Inn - Bill McIntyre
leads storm-watching tours for their guests and they were one of the first groups in the
area to advertise storm-watching tours for visitors.
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