16 feet to Clayoquot Sound

M

Marco Flamingo

Active member
I just returned from a week on Clayoquot. I don't have the boat cleaned up yet and put away, but the freezer is now full again (it's a little freezer). I checked out most of the boat launches on Clayoquot and Barkley. I was going to launch at Grice Bay, based on some postings here. When I got there, several rangers said I would need to get an annual pass to park seven nights. When I went to the Administration Building to by my pass, I was told that there was no overnight parking at Grice Bay (new policy). I went down to check out the launch anyway and it's not a good ramp or particularly good daytime parking area. Park rangers were rousting a couple of young men from a car that had obviously spent the night. The scattering of beer cans surrounding the car, and the steamed up windows, gave them away.

When I launched at Tofino, I came back to the dock after parking the trailer and was told that I couldn't go down the dock because the RCMP and local police were removing a boat that had sunk. Five men aboard, only two of which have been found. My cockpit was commandeered for a holding area for ropes and things. It was very odd. The police took EXTREME care in making sure that a tarp that they had covered the boat with was kept in place as they tried to remove the hull. They would send a person sneaking under the tarp to set the pump intake, and sneak them back out. Somebody said that was to show respect for the family members (all present, plus several hundred others). Being a skeptic, I suspected another reason. There was something about the hull/cabin that the police wanted to keep "under wraps," so to speak. Bullet holes, maybe? That's how rumors get started. But it was really weird. Fussing with the tarp delayed them so that it took 2 hours to remove the boat. Once on the trailer, they still made sure that everything was covered by the tarp. I thought there was a lot of water coming from an area where there shouldn't be.

https://thestar.com/vancouver/2018/06/1 ... izing.html

A memorial was set up when I stopped in Tofino a few days later for fuel and to drop off fish to be processed.

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More on what I learned when I get things taken care of.

Mark
 
As I said, the "free" Grice Bay launch was iffy and not free. The launch is really only good at high tide, in part because it is in a bay that almost completely drains at low. There is an unmarked channel that goes in as far as the ramp at low water, but the ramp itself would be unusable at low. One would need to wait for high to launch or retrieve and then be confident to run across the covered mud flats.

On learning that overnight parking wasn't available at Grice, I went in to Tofino and started asking around. The Harbor Authority had a nice ramp ($15 in/out), but trailer and rig parking was $15 a night and there were only 4 slots. Four slots is probably enough because nobody wants to pay $15 per night. I then learned from the harbor master that there was free overnight "RV parking" up by the school (at the end of 4th Street). The area was mostly used by large boat trailers, some of which were overgrown with weeds. There were only a few smaller spots, so I parked my trailer in one and tow rig in another. I lock my trailer wheels to the frame and remove the pin from the folding tongue, so it's safe. I later realized that I didn't need to park my tow rig there. I could have parked it on the street closer to the ramp. It's only four blocks away, but the RV parking area is more remote and probably not patrolled as well.

On returning, I found that an RV had parked in front of the "No Camping" sign such that it blocked my trailer. I knocked on the door, waited, knocked again. When it was obvious that I wasn't going away, a groggy "dude" answered and asked me if I needed him to move. Duh.

So for me, launch and parking was $15 for the week for a week. The harbor master looked skeptical when I told him I was staying on my boat for a week and would not need moorage. He was helpful and allowed me to use one of the parking spots to organize for both in and out. Locals (commercial and guides) are at the ramp for about two minutes and then gone. Potable water, restrooms, showers. I didn't ask how much overnight moorage is, but the marina would be a busy place all night long.

At the other end of town is more public moorage with easy access to the Co-Op grocery and hardware stores, pharmacy, smoked salmon shop, gifts, etc. It is busy during the day with water taxis running to the outlying small communities. Although it wasn't posted that overnight was not allowed, it would be bouncy with all the traffic in and out of Tofino.

There is a new fuel dock. The old one is still there, but further up the inlet, one of the fancy resorts now sells fuel. Price was the same ($1.40/l). The old fuel dock has quite a large store on the dock (fishing stuff, boat hardware, pop, etc.), so it's the place to fuel if you need something. Marktosis and Ahousat also have fuel docks ($146/l) with them being (like the fuel docks in Tofino) within view of each other.

A stop at the Ahousat general store is worth it because it is frozen in time. It has been for sale for several years. Still operated by the owner who bought it in 1954, he was chatty once he got going and explained all about how and when he built the "motel," the fuel dock, etc. He had a refrigerated display case filled with pop, but it wasn't running, so no cold beverages at the time. It looked like he could use some business, so I bought a souvenir shirt that already had stains and a ring around the collar just from hanging in the store so long. I had to read the price tag for him. A very interesting place.

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Listen to channel 68A when away from Tofino. "Could you bring me some of them crackers in the red box?" "Anybody going to the Post Office in Tof today?" "Hi Grammi, I'll be there by 2 o'clock." A community radio station.

The fish processing plant in Tofino (www.trilogyfish.net, which I recommend) and the harbor master's office both open at 11 on Mondays, so I had some time to kill before pulling my boat out and picking up my fish. I drove to Ucluelet and looked around. I found two "public" ramps, one when first coming into town and one further in belonging to a resort. The first one is public with no launch fee, but the land around it belongs to a campground (uclueletcampground.com). The launch is free, but if you want to park your rig and trailer there, it is $12 per day/night paid at the campground. The second ramp (www.islandwestresort.com) is $21 in/out and $5 a night to park your rig and trailer. It has a more secure looking paved parking area. There is a restaurant and pub there, plus overnight moorage at a nice looking dock with a fish cleaning station (I didn't ask how much per night for moorage). I don't know if the area would look so secure in the evening with the pub operating.

Mark
 
Mark, thank you for the update on Tofino. I am considering going, but I haven't mustered the courage to tow my boat over that road yet, but I think I might. I just need a tiny bit of motivation at the moment.

Did you anchor out during your week in Claquot Sound? Were there lots of places shallow and protected enough to anchor comfortably?
 
I anchored out every night. Some of my favorite anchorages are almost due east of Tofino. I would have to look at a chart to remember the names. The only one that I remember is a bay with no name next to False Bay.

Tofino has a couple of bear watching excursion boats and most evenings, just about dinner time, one would poke into my anchorage and quickly turn around to leave me alone. I saw bear most nights.

Mark
 
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