Road Trip Along Vancouver Island’s Beautiful West Coast

Vancouver Island has so many beautiful spots and places to explore.

As locals, we haven’t really even explored our own city and island as much as we should.  So this weekend we decided we really needed to get out and explore to see more of what Vancouver Island has to offer!

Sooke

Our first destination was the Sooke Potholes. It’s about a 45 minute drive from downtown Victoria.  Exit 14 is clearly marked from the highway to get to Sooke. The road after Langford is a pretty windy one lane highway, so avoid driving a tall SUV or truck as you may get your passengers sick.

Once you get to Sooke, you will see a sign that welcomes you and says “The Volunteer Capital of Canada“.  Must be lots of retirees there.  As you follow the marked signs to the potholes you want to head to the second or third viewpoint.  We noticed the old ruins of what was supposed to be a resort and stopped there.  They say you can only park there for 20 minutes at a time, but it didn’t seem like anyone was checking.

The view was very beautiful looking down into the river.  Most of the area was fenced off in that area, so you couldn’t walk down to the bottom.  But we saw some people swimming in the potholes enjoying the cold water as it was very hot outside.  With the water rushing down from such a steep area, it makes these deep potholes where the water pools before falling down into the next set of potholes.  It makes for a beautiful sight with lots of small waterfalls and deep potholes with clear water.

The best part of our stop was the old resort ruins that hadn’t been completed.  The whole area was fenced off with warning signs of “No Trespassing” and plywood over areas of the fence that looked like people had cut to get inside. We still found a way in, as we really wanted to see all the graffiti inside.

Only the walls remained, so it is a perfect canvas for artist to show off their work.  The artwork varied from really old school tagging, to gigantic portraits.  One in particular was a Japanese geisha that was very detailed and well shaded.  Almost all the art work was really good.  No amateur work there.

Tip: There is no cell reception past Sooke so be prepared to “get away from it all” as no one will be able to call or text you.  And you won’t be able to post your fabulous photos on Instagram 😉

 

Point No Point

After Sooke, we got back onto the Juan de Fuca Highway and drove to Point no Point.  This is a small resort with a fabulous restaurant that overlooks the beach and water.  There’s only about 8 tables, but there’s not a bad seat in the house.  They have huge windows facing the water and binoculars for you to look out for whales, birds, or other wildlife.

We stayed for lunch which was very reasonable.  The menu was not very big, but had some good options to choose from.  Louise ordered the Croque Monsieur, which was a fancy French version of ham and cheese.  It was served on a nice molasses bread with sliced ham, Swiss cheese, and caramelized onions. On the side was a dijon mustard dipping sauce, which the waitress was surprised Louise knew to dip her sandwich in.  She said most people put it on the salad, but the salad was already dressed with this tangy balsamic dressing.  Delicious!

I ordered the salmon which was perfectly charred and grilled to perfection.  It was atop a salad with this honey soy dressing that I almost licked off plate.  My favourite part of the dish was a Brie and parsnip strudel that was perfectly flaky and super delicious.  The last element was a horseradish mousse for the salmon that I very much enjoyed.  And if you know me, I love anything spicy.

Despite being a light lunch we were too full to eat dessert, which the waitress urged us to at least take a look at.  The ice cream sandwiches sounded delicious but too much for us to handle.

After lunch we asked the front desk how to get down to the beach.  They have a private entrance which you need to ask them for a gate code, and they only give you if are a guest or eat at the restaurant.  Apparently they change it all the time as well.

When we got to the gate, they had this funny sign saying there were mama black bear and cub sightings so make sure you make lots of noise and walk with caution.  The walk was only about five or ten minutes, and when we got there we were the only ones on the beach.  It was very peaceful and we got to stroll around and take in all the beautiful views from the different view points on the trail.

Tip: Make sure you fill up in Victoria as there are not many gas stations past Sooke.  And without cell reception, you definitely don’t want to get stuck anywhere without gas.

Sombrio

The West Coast is known for all the wonderful beaches and surf spots.  We had half the day left so we continued on Sooke Road to Sombrio beach.  It was a little hard to find as the turn off is not clearly marked and it is a dirt road off the highway.  Once you see the sign for Sombrio it will be the dirt road on the left about 400m away but there are no signs at the entrance.  We didn’t realize that was the entrance and drove right past it and had to turn around later when we realized we went too far.

 

It was pretty busy as the day was really nice and hot.  We had to park about a couple hundred meters from the parking lot and walk down to the beach.  As we got closer to the water they had some nice port-o-potties for a public beach and campground.  We didn’t realize so many people camped right on the beach.  There must have been about twenty to thirty groups of people with tents set up for the night.

The beach was beautiful, but it was full of large rocks that were dark and seemed to retain the heat.  It was hot and difficult to walk along the beach.  The rocks were amazingly flat and smooth, perfect for skipping.  But we still recommend wearing some hiking shoes and only wear sandals after going into the water.

The main reason we went to Sombrio was to go to this amazing waterfall.  Getting up to the waterfall you walk up a creek which is super slippery and very cold.  It’s like walking into a cave, but the end is open and you look up and see this amazing waterfall. We must have timed it just right as the sun was just peaking through and made beautiful rainbows from the mist.

Louise and I took turns going into the water.  At first it is really cold, but gets better after the initial shock.  Luckily it was a really hot day and it was very refreshing.  After getting a few photos and video, we decided to go back to the beach and lay out.  The whole area was spectacular.  No wonder it was so busy and a popular spot for people to go along the west coast.

 

Port Renfrew and beyond

Our family lives in Mill Bay, so we decided to drive the long way around from Port Renfrew, past Lake Cowichan and back down highway one.  The back road from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan is very windy and doesn’t even have a dividing line painted on the road.  All the bridges are also one lane so be careful of drivers in the opposite direction. We weren’t going very fast, but we noticed a car in front of us pull to the side for a passenger to “toss their cookies”.  I had to make sure Louise was feeling okay as she tends to get car sick as well.  Luckily she kept her lunch down.

We were pretty hungry from all our adventures so we decided to get take out from Flynn’s Fish and Chips, one of our favourites.  If you are every driving up the Malahat towards Nanaimo or Duncan, this is one we recommend to stop for some great fish and chips.

This was a great ending to our fun filled day of traveling around the South West Coast of Vancouver Island.

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