i hope everyone is not getting tired of all my questions. everyone has been so incredibly helpful and nice, so i hope patience is in abundance as well.

here it is.... please comment

(mid-july w/2 teens)

fly into VANCOUVER, stay overnight
(have visited before)

drive 7 hrs (??) to TOFINO
(is this about right?)

stay 3 or 4 nights at Chesterman Beach B&B
(kayak to Meares Island, hike, and relax)

drive 5 hrs (???) to VICTORIA -- stay 2 nights at Westin Bear Mtn Resort
(mapquest says almost 5 hrs, but inn owner and others on this board have said 3. not sure which is right?)
(spend most of day exploring Victoria, and afternoon golfing, want to see gardens as well, but family may be bawk)

ferry to ORCAS Island (time???)
Stay 3 nights on island, with 1 day trip (w/car) to San Juan Island --***how long is commute?

get back to Vancover (time??) to stay overnight before flight OR get an open jaw ticket to fly out of Seattle (never been there before!)

QUESTION:
Am I going to be getting a lot of the same thing (scenery, activities) with Tofino and the San Juan Islands?? Is it worth it to all that driving, or should we just pick one of the places and stay there a week. (my husband really does not mind driving, and we love gorgeous scenery)

Any comments appreciated. Thanks!!!
dina

When you go from Victoria to the San Juan Islands you are crossing an international border so you have to go through customs. Same when you return. This may take only a couple of minutes or it could take half an hour or more, depending on the customs agents. I haven't been on the islands to know how to advise you on that but I personally would be tempted to spend the time on Vancouver Island. There are plenty of things to see there to take a week or more.

Tired of questions? That's what this forum is for.

I don't know about others, but I couldn't drive from Tofino to Victoria in only three hours.

It would be a mistake to miss Butchart Gardens if you've never been, I think.

I can't help with Orcas Island because I've never been. Many Canadians don't go to the San Juans because they're so darned awkward for us to get to. Two days on San Juan Island would be my minimum. In my opinion it is the most beautiful island in the area and it has some interesting historical sites, with varied terrain and plant life (red foxes too!). We might be oddballs but we liked the wide open plains at the American Camp.

Travel time? I wish I'd kept better notes. All I know is that we took one trip from Sidney to Anacortes that left at 6:00 pm (we wanted the later sailing) and was supposed to arrive at Anacortes at 8:30 but it took longer. In the fall, when we went to San Juan Island, I believe there was only one sailing from Sidney, late morning. I would guess the trip from Sidney to San Juan took an hour or an hour and a half, and I think we had to be at the terminal in Sidney an hour and a half before the sailing.

It's worth reserving on this ferry because the reservation fee ($30?) is applied to the fare, not added to it. The ferry company has you pay for the trip to Anacortes whether you're going that far or not. So if you continue later to Anacortes, it's "free", but if you return to Sidney, you pay extra! Reservation fee from San Juan Island to Sidney was about $17 if I recall correctly.

Is there a way to get from the San Juans to Vancouver? Not that I know of but I have never looked into it. I think you would probably either have to go back to Sidney or on to Anacortes.

I think you have an interesting trip planned out. It does involves a lot of ferry time, which means waiting at ferry terminals, so you might want to eliminate something.

It shouldn't take you 7 hours to get to Tofino from Vancouver. It's about 30 minutes to Horseshoe Bay, 1.5 hour ferry to Nanaimo, then a 3 hour drive from Nanaimo to Tofino. So with ferry waiting and unloading time, maybe 6 hours.

I'll be interested to hear how you like the B&B there, you'll have to post a report when you get home.

And I agree with April, 3 hours from Tofino to Victoria is not realistic, since it takes 3 hours to get from Tofion to Nanaimo alone. More like 5 hours, MAYBE a little less since the Westin is outside the city.

It doesn't look like Washington State Ferries has the summer schedule available yet. In the past, there have been 2 ferries from Sidney to Anacortes, only one of which stops on the way (the later ferry) and it only stops on San Juan, not on Orcas (why, I don't understand, because it stops on both Orcas and San Juan going TO Sidney). So if the set up is the same this summer, you'll get to Friday Harbor in the evening and then you'll have to take another ferry from there to Orcas. So it makes for a somewhat complicated travel day. You might consider staying on San Juan for one night, exploring it, then moving on to Orcas the next day. The inter-island ferry between Friday Harbor and Orcas takes about 45 minutes btw.

If you do end up flying out of Vancouver, you'll take the ferry to Anacortes (a little over an hour plus waiting time) then drive north about 90 minutes or so (longer if the border is backed up). Going to Seattle will take about the same amount of time but you avoid another border crossing.

I think the San Juans and Tofino are different enough that both are worthwhile. The whale watching is for different types of whales--gray vs. orcas, and hiking on the beaches vs. hiking on Mt. Constitution on Orcas, just to give a couple examples. But OTOH, more time in Tofino is always a good thing ;-).

Thanks everyone!

All your advice on ferry/driving travel is invaluable!

NW -- i will definitely let you know about the Chesterman Beach B&B. I'll do a trip report when we get back. And i'm going to try to do the open jaw ticket for our return.

April -- i will definitely try to get to Burchart Gardens. and we'll definitely make ferry reservations.

i'm sure i'll be back with more questions soon!
dina

Hi, while at chesterman beach if you walk to the left during low tide there are some great sea caves you can explore. Make sure to watch the tides, they come in quickly there. Also the zodiac trip to hotsprings cove out of tofino is definetly worth doing. Bear Mtn golf course is great.

Hi Dina,
It definitely takes 5 hours to go from Tofino to Victoria.
Definitely make ferry reservations.

Question: why are you staying at Bear Mountain? It is quite a ways from downtown Victoria (30 minutes). If you are going to golf, then stay there, if not I would stay in Victoria.
If you have to choose between spending time in the San Juan Islands or Seattle, I would choose Seattle. Orcas Island is like going to the country....not much to do there except hike. There is more to do in Tofino, much more rugged/wild scenery. Beautiful but there are so many wonderful things to do in Seattle, including hiking! Pike Place Market, Space Needle and Seattle Centre, University of Washington, Experience Music Project (your teens will probably like this), the waterfront and piers, shopping, dining/nightlife, it is a very trendy, young persons city.
Also between Vancouver and Seattle, you can tour the Boeing factory in Everett, which is very interesting...
www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours/
Anyway...good luck!
Sue

The San Juans will be somewhat underwhelming after WCVI.

hi everyone,
I ended up booking the trip in and out of Seattle, since we've been to Vancouver before, and it does seem like a great city to explore with teens. More importantly, it was a lot cheaper!

Weasel-- thanks for the tip on the sea caves at Chesterman Beach. sounds fun.
the hot springs sounds great, too. everyone seems to rave about that. I'm worried that it's too expensive for four of us.

Right now, i think we're looking at a kayak trip to Meares Island. Although i wish we could do it without a guide. we've kayaked a lot before, but someone said it's hard to find the right spot to dock your kayak at Meares.

also looking at finding a good bear watching trip.

Planning to do whale watching in San Juans.

JuicyLucy -- we are staying at bear mountain precisely for the golf. my husband and son love to play. My daughter and i will go into Victoria for tea and some shopping.

thanks,
dina

I think everything's underwhelming compared to WCVI. But I still love San Juan Island.

We also really enjoyed the Boeing tour.

Not sure why you chose Orcas for 3 nights with a side trip to San Juan Island. You probably want to do it in reverse. Very little to do on Orcas - esp. for teens. Beautiful, but rural. You must have a car there. San Juan at least has a town (Friday Harbor)some shops and good restaurants. Add at least 90 minutes to be in line before the ferry arrives on San Juan in the summer - we've put our car in line at 6 AM.

oliverandharry,

thanks for your concern, but i'm sure we can find stuff to do to keep busy on Orcas for 3 nights. We will hike in Moran St. Park, take a kayak trip, go on a whale watching trip, as well as just relax. there's even a golf course to check out. our teens are pretty good about relaxing, they're happy to read or kick a soccer ball around, too. (we rented a an oceanfront cottage)

we have to stop on san juan on the way to Orcas, as the sidney ferry doesn't stop on orcas. so we can see a bit of San Juan Island on that day with our car that we'll have on our entire trip.