Rent a car or go crazy it's your choice.

Also note that rentals are few and far between in December most rental offices are closed tight so check carefully.

You are aware there are only 8 hours of daylight right?

Hi Sam- I knew the sun would be setting around 530 or so. I was fascinated by the whole storm watching thing so figured I'd get up early, walk/hike most of the day, then have a nice dinner and read by the fireplace. Do you know of any walking trails that start in Tofino itself? Also- is there any whale or bear watching last week of November?

Consider taking your rental car over to the Tofino Botanical Gardens, which is a quirky cool place. They have a couple of birder blinds set up on the trail overlooking the mud flats, great place for birding. Not sure what's out there in Nov-Dec, but definitely worth a look. We just saw a few hard-to-ID plovers and sandpipers, and a bald eagle (of course!). Your admission to the gardens is good for 3 days.

Mt wife and I got a great look at a Boreal Owl when hiking the Shorepine Bog Trail in the Pacific Rim NP at dusk last week. Stop by the visitor center for a brochure on the bog before hiking there.

Good hiking page here:
http://www.gotofino.com/tofinohikingtrailsbeaches.html

Have a great trip.

Thanks Nelson! I'm pretty excited to see my first bald eagle! Do you recommend any particular bird guide? I was going to get on e for Western birds in general, or should I get one specific to Vancouver/Vancouver Island?

We didn't use a bird guide on this trip as the birding aspect was just a minor sideline, but I did stop and look at a few in book stores. There is a great Munro's Books on Government Street in Victoria if you are there before heading for Tofino. Also a few decent places to buy books in Tofino and Ucluelet. There were several books specific to Vancouver Island which is nice, but they are not as complete as the Peterson Western Birds or the National Geographic North America field guide, my two favorites.

If we are more serious about birding then we'll bring one the above and also pick up a local guide upon arrival. We decide on the latter after browsing through the ones available. The local guide has the common species that you are most likely to see anyway.

Good luck on the bald eagle! We saw four sitting in a trees near Terrace Beach from the Lighthouse section of the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet. Another time there was one sitting in a tree directly above the trail. I spotted him from near the lighthouse.

We also saw a red-tailed hawk grab a garter snake out of the road as we were driving slowly by the fish hatchery outside of Ucluelet. That was amazing!

Also Semipalmated Plover and Western Sandpiper on the beaches. They are fun to watch.

I have no idea what's there in December. Good luck!

Now that my photos are on my computer and I can zoom in with higher resolution, and using my Peterson Western Birds field guide, I've determined what we thought was a Boreal Owl was actually a Northern Saw-whet Owl. They are similar but my photo clearly shows the darker face of the Saw-whet, also the Boreal is rare for Vancouver Island.

I'd seriously look into some sort of transport once you're there, even if that means hitchhiking (which is normal in/around Tofino) or renting a bike, because otherwise you will be stuck at the resort and after a day, you'll want to explore beyond as there's so much out there to discover.

I've been to Tofino on public transit *once*, visiting a good friend of mine who was working at the Long Beach Lodge. This was back in December 2003, mind you, and I took the Tofino Bus out to the resort, but once we were there, we had to hitchhike or catch a ride with her colleagues to get anywhere.

While travelling around "Tofino" can be done without a car, it's so SO much easier to access the trails with wheels because everything is spaced far apart. The trails and beaches, for example, are all accessed from the highway between the villages of Tofino and Ucluelet - that's a stretch of 40km (24 miles). Pacific Rim National Park makes up a significant chunk of those 40km. They're small distances by car, but a hassle/too far to walk.

I should also clarify, when people say they're going "to Tofino", they rarely are just talking about the village - they're talking about the whole peninsula where the Pacific Rim National Park is. There are gift shops, restaurants, cafes, and a few businesses in the village of Tofino, but the majority of the scenery/etc. that you're coming to experience are further back along that highway. Tofino, the village, is merely a pitstop where you fill up on food, or book a whale watching or kayaking tour, for example.

Rent that car or at least find some sort of transportation. It would be a shame to travel all that way and then limit your experiences to where you can walk to.

Oh, you did ask about alternative transit, and Tofino Bus would be your other option. They only have their schedule til Sept 3 online... I hope that doesn't mean they stop this service in the fall/winter months, but contact them and see.

This would be your other way of accessing the trails/beaches. The schedule, however, is limited, so you'd have to carefully plan around the schedule in order to make the most of it:

http://www.tofinobus.com/beachbus

Thanks everybody- it seems renting a car will be the way to go. Any restaurants I should get to?

i stayed @ long beach lodge a few years ago and the food was wonderful in the gorgeous lounge. we shared a table w/a 4 some of locals who dine there weekely
cheers
AndrewDavid

Sobo downtown Tofino is fantastic.

Sobo is great for casual food - I remember having a duck confit pizza a few years ago, as well as polenta fries, and they were fantastic.

Tacofino - a taco truck: http://tacofino.com/

And I too have had excellent meals at the Long Beach Lodge.