My husband and I will be Tofino for 5 days in early June and are trying to loosely plan our days. I had a few specific questions and would appreciate any insight--

We want to take a seaplane one early morning, maybe on day 3, to Hot Springs Cove. Should this be reserved in advance (Iike around now) or can it be done once we get to Tofino? Any recommendations on which company to book through?

We love to kayak and would like to explore the Broken Group Islands. We were planning to use the MV Lady Rose to get out and back, they rent kayaks as well. Is this feasible to do in one day?

Has anyone done the kayaking day trip to Vargas Island shorelines with Tofino Sea Kayaking; how was it?

I'm trying really hard to not schedule a lot ahead of time, so if we decide we'd like to go (via water taxi) to Meares or Flores Island once we get there will that be easy to arrange?

And finally, has anyone been to the Tofino Wine & Food Festival? We're considering the winemaker's dinner, the canapes/ wine tasting, or both. Worth it?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Lucky you, Tofino's one of my favorite places in the world.

I think you should be able to reserve most activities you get there, but you might want to call your hotel to get their input.

I haven't done the day trip to Vargas but I've done both the overnight trip to Vargas and the day trip to Meares Island with Tofino Sea Kayaking, and prefer the route to Meares Island of the two.

Doesn't the MV Rose go out of Port Alberni? That's a lot of driving/traveling for a day trip if so, regardless of whether it's feasible.

We were at Hot Springs Cove a number of years ago and decided to fly back to Tofino via seaplane - we had arrived there by water taxi and it took ages. We had no problem booking the plane that morning; we had stayed on a houseboat docked right at the Cove that night.

Thanks for the quick response--I will look more closely at Meares Island now. I had no idea the MV Rose went out of Port Alberni! If so that's probably out. I'll be calling the company later this week to find out more details.

Staying on a houseboat for a night sounds great--I wish we had heard about that before booking Middle Beach Lodge. At least I've been forewarned so as not to be too envious when we see them at the cove...