Canada's insider blog

To be a surfer in Tofino, BC this week is to be the luckiest of creatures. It means you get to watch some of the world’s top surfers compete at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic. And then if you ever tire of that—well, you can just walk down the beach, find your own dappled wave and pretend you’re on a ride that can’t possibly end.

Or, you can do what I did yesterday; rent a pink beach cruiser, pedal into town and make like an off-hour surfer. Here’s where the local surfers go when they’re not looking for swells:

1. If it’s lunchtime it’s Taco Time and we don’t mean the franchise (in fact, Tofino is franchise-free). You’ll find hungry locals straddling upside-down yellow buckets at the Taco Fino trailer. Here to scarf down fresh-from-the-sea soft-shell tacos piled high with mango salsa, chipotle mayo and crunchy cabbage or this week’s special, the Cold Water Classic. Mint freshies wash all that goodness down.
2. Din din means a massive bowl of chunky seafood chowder and pizza at the Shelter. In the girls’ loo above the toilet roll dispensers, you’ll find a small screen TV, the size of a digital photo frame, that plays whale watching flicks. It’s the guys who rate—they get a big, flat screen TV above the urinals that plays surfing flicks all day, all night.
3. Want to return home with a surfing souvenir? Hoodies, T-shirts and anything by Roxy and Billabong can be found at Storm, Surf Sister and Live to Surf (oldest surf shop in Tofino). Find homemade, customized surf boards at one of North America’s few, full-time board shapers, the Board Medic.

Watch a video about Tofino’s Surf Sisters surfing school.
Read more on travel to Tofino, BC.