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Vancouver/Sunshine Coast/Van. Island Trip - Help Please

Vancouver/Sunshine Coast/Van. Island Trip - Help Please

Old Aug 2nd, 2013, 08:50 PM
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cat
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Vancouver/Sunshine Coast/Van. Island Trip - Help Please

Planning a trip from Philadelphia to Vancouver, BC area with hubby and still up in the air about a lot of things, But, I'm running out of time as we're leaving 8/20 and returning 8/30.

Itinerary looks like this so far:

8/20-8/24 - 4 nights in downtown Vancouver (possible day trip to Whistler)
8/24-8/26 - 2 nights on Sunshine Coast at Pointhouse B&B in Sargeant Bay (obsessed with a boat cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet, but wondering if we should spend 3 nights here since that trip takes a whole day?)
8/26-8/29 - 3 nights in either Ucluelet or Tofino (Blackrock Resort or Wick Inn ? - suggestions welcome)
8/29-8/30 - travel back to Vancouver and stay 1 night near airport for 6 am flight home

My dilemma lies in my uncertainty about traveling on car ferries and the time it takes to drive/ferry from place to place. We don't like to spend more than 4-5 hrs. traveling from place to place. More than that gets exhausting for us and ends up being tedious. We like to cover a lot of ground and see as much as possible, but rest and relaxation are also very important to us, so I try not to schedule too much into each trip.

My particular concern is with the travel day on 8/26 from Sargeant Bay on the Sunshine Coast to the Ucluelet/Tofino area on Vancouver Island. In researching this, it looks like this leg of the trip requires:

- 45 min drive from Sargeant Bay to Langdale Ferry
- 40 min ferry ride from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay
- lay over between ferries of about 1.5 hrs.
- 1.5 hr ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, and then
- 3.5 hr drive to Ucluelet/Tofino.

That seems like a VERY long travel day that starts at about 9:00 am and gets us to our destination by 5:00-6:00 pm. It also requires a lot of planning and precision as we need to make advance reservations for the car ferries for certain times and be there 30 mins before the ferry leaves.

I'm wondering if we should overnight near Nanaimo and drive to the west coast the next morning leaving us 2 nights in Ucluelet/Tofino. Or, just skip Vancouver Island altogether and stay an extra night at Sargeant Bay, do the Princess Louisa Inlet boat tour and then 2 more nights somewhere else on the Sunshine Coast and then back to Vancouver for 1 night? I think my trepidation about the car ferries and not knowing what to expect with that is causing me to flounder here.

Also, any opinions on a day trip from Vancouver to Whistler? Is it worth the drive/train ride to go for the day or does this really require an overnight stay?

Any help/suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

cat


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Old Aug 3rd, 2013, 07:03 AM
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That is alot in a short period in my opinion. For a lot of folks it would be fine, but I am like you and get tired easily when I am on the road too much.

My suggestion would be either drop the Island and spend another day in Vancouver to add Whistler and also add time to the Sunshine coast.

The ferries are quite often late in summer, you need to make reservations and because you are taking two there is a lot of wasted time in between. I have done it a few times, which I dont mind but then I am not on a tight schedule usually.

Another option would be to fly.

You could fly on Tofino Air http://www.tofinoair.ca/flights_sec-nan.asp
as an example and fly from Sechelt (Sunshine Coast )to Nanaimo on Tofino Air
and rent a car from there. It takes 20 minutes and cost around $60 each.

It is an amazing flight over the little islands. On the return you can take the ferry back and then you are only taking one ferry back to Vancouver.

You can take a city bus from the ferry into Vancouver and then the skytrain out to the airport, or Richmond area to get a hotel for the night. Or just stay in Vancouver for the night

If you have a lot of luggage and not comfortable with taking the city bus (people travel with suitcases on it all the time, that is what we do when we leave the island to go to the airport). You can always drop the car in Vancouver.

Or, fly from Nanaimo to Vancouver and spend the night before there.

You can fly from Nanaimo Harbour to the airport on
http://www.harbour-air.com/index.php
again around 20 minutes and $80 each one way
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Old Aug 3rd, 2013, 07:42 AM
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Regarding your question about the Wick or Black Rock, the question may be where you can get a room. It is always crazy busy in August, and this year is even more so. As soon as you decide book a room IMO.

If you have a choice I would say Tofino. I own a place in Ucluelet and love it, but for a first time I would stay in Tofino. There you have the beaches, touristy but cute town of Tofino and more going on. Ucluelet is sleepier for sure.

On the way back to Nanaimo you can stop in Ucluelet for a bit, it is only 10 minutes from the junction back to Nanaimo. There you will find a very quaint fishing town (not much fishing down now however) but a wonderful trail to walk. The wild pacific trail winds through the forest and hugs with rugged coast line. A very easy hike that has pieces you can do in 1/2 hour or a few hours depending upon your time.

Black Rock and the Wick are both the nicest in the area. You can't go wrong with either if you are looking for west coast luxury. Have a meal at either or both as the view from the restaurant is fantastic in both.
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Old Aug 3rd, 2013, 07:58 AM
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Thank you live42day. That is EXACTLY the input I was looking for! And, you confirmed my suspicion that the original itinerary for 8/26 is going to be too much, too long and leave us both exhausted and miserable which is not what you want on vacation So, even though I'm a little skittish about small planes, I like the thought of flying back and forth to the island to make things shorter and simpler. Other option is skipping the island as you said, but it feels a shame to travel all that way to this part of the world and not experience it.

If we drove to the Sunshine coast and flew to Tofino from there, is renting the car in downtown Vancouver and dropping it off in Sechelt a reasonable possibility? If we did that, then I think I would choose to stay in Tofino and rent a car from there, return it there and then fly back to the mainland to go home.

I'm willing to forgo Whistler altogether, especially if we can do the Princess Louisa Inlet cruise.

Does this sound like a better plan?

Thanks again!
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Old Aug 3rd, 2013, 10:06 AM
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You cant really fly from the sunshine coast to Tofino without connections. You fly Sunshine coast to Nanaimo.
Sorry the confusion is that the airline is called Tofino Air.

What I was suggesting is to rent a car to/from Nanaimo to Tofino. THe flight is from Sunshine coast to Nanaimo and then either the ferry or plane back from Nanaimo to Vancouver.

Well renting a car and going to sechelt may be a problem. I forgot about that, sorry. I dont know if you can drop off a rental car there, you will have to ask the company you are renting from. The other option would be to fly from Vancouver to Sechelt and then Sechelt to Nanaimo.

There are small local car rentals on the Sunshine coast, but perhaps someone from that area can chime in on the logistics of a one way car rental from Vancouver.
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