live42day

The new permanent Ucluelet Aquarium is now open and fantastic, especially if you have kids. It is small but packed with fish and creatures from just outside the door. It is amazing how colorful and tropical West Coast sea life is. They have small tidal pool type tanks kid height that are hands on so that the starfish etc can be picked up and touched by little hands.

Today we watched as they fed an octopus his daily meal of crab.

If you take the Francis Barclay (Lady Rose) from Port Alberni as a day trip I saw people coming off with coupons to get into the Aquarium so I guess there may be some kind of a package deal as they stop in Ukee for 1 1/2 hours I think.


The best thing about this place in my opinion is that everything is changed every 6 months, so the fish are only in captivity for six months and then released again.

The staff are all biology students from UBC and very helpful and knowledgable to old folks like us as well as the kids.
http://www.uclueletaquarium.org/contact.html

Smileys just reopened as well and they have a billiard table and bowling alley in there. The new community centre has a small movie theatre in it as well that shows movies on a sporatic basis. You need to check the local paper to see whats on

Ucluelet is becoming a happenin place.

Nelson

My wife and I will be in Ucluelet in August and a visit to the aquarium is high on our list of things to do.

We are not kids, and won't have any, but we do have small brains so it should be great.

Thanks for the update!

Maudie

We just starting to plan our trip for September 2013 and tossing up between spending a few days in either Tofino or Ucluelet, the latter seems to be winning from some of the great things I have been reading on this forum. Just wish I knew how to pronounce it!

Thanks for posting.

live42day

You Clue Let but we say Ukee

Maudie

Thanks for that, it's simple really. Ukee is even better. Hope you are around when I start looking for accommodation, live42day. I have been reading a lot of your very helpful posts.

live42day

Septemeber is a great time to go if you like to see bears, and there are less people, the weather is usually good but the days are shorter.

Maudie

That's good news as we plan to be there around mid September.Can you please give me some details about where to see bears? That would be a fantastic bonus.

We we visiting Alaska first then the Rockies before spending about a week on Vancouver Island to relax before our long flight home.

live42day

The Thornton Fish Hatchery. Ask anyone in town how to get there. It is towards Port Albion, about a 10 minute drive. You will see them fishing in the river from a boardwalk, mere yards away from you. Here is my video from last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDsjq...1&feature=plcp

Maudie

Oh thanks so much for your video link, that is fantastic! I can't believe how close you were. I didn't even think about seeing bears around there, I can see we will be spending hours watching them.

It just gets better all the time. I really appreciate your posts. Do you live there or just holiday there?

live42day

I have a place there that we live in part time. We live full time two hours away, so we spend a lot of time there. Our son is living in Ucluelet again.

Maudie

Well it certainly looks like a beautiful place, I am sure we are going to love it there too. I shall look forward to getting more of your great suggestions soon when I am ready to post my Vancouver Island itinerary.