DAY 1- meet early in the morning for the ferry trip to Vancouver Island. A scenic and exciting 2 hour ship ride with great views of the city, Bowen Island and Nanaimo. Then a 3 hour scenic drive right across the island, stopping for late lunch at one of the picturesque picnic areas along the road. Setting up the camp/moving in, walk to the beach, dinner, camp fire...

DAY 2- after the breakfast - a trip to Tofino, picking up any necessary equipment and back to the camp for the first surf lesson. Lunch on the beach and then surfing until 4pm. Back to the camp, snack and beach fun (beach volleyball, skim boarding, frisbee), until dinner. Excursion to town for ice-cream before the camp fire and bed

DAY 3- whale watching trip in a high speed boat will be the main attraction in the morning. This educational trip will show many sea mammals in their natural habitat,  we will also try to spot eagles. We will look at an example of a fish farm and discuss the dangers to the environment.  After lunch we will head out to  surf, then enjoy our dinner on Long Beach followed by relaxing beach activities.

DAY 4- surfing at Cox Bay in the morning. Kayak excursion in the afternoon. Fish and chip in Tofino for dinner. Evening trip to Long Beach before bed.

DAY 5- mountain biking in the morning near Ucluelet, lunch at Cox Bay and surfing and skim boarding until dinner. After dinner Bocce tournament on our local beach. Camp fire with the "horror story contest".

DAY 6- choice of surfing or kayaking in the morning. A hike to the Radar Hill, a lesson in WW2 history, relaxing afternoon, mountain biking before dinner. Dinner is a feast on locally caught fish and other fruit of the ocean. Free time after dinner to relax. Camp fire, games and awards.

DAY 7- packing in the morning, returning the equipment, a little beach time and driving back towards Nanaimo. On the way lunch by the lake where water bombers are parked then a visit to the old growth forest with number of interpretive trails. Ferry ride to Horshoe Bay and to Vancouver where parents pick up.

If you are sending your child (14yrs +) to be picked up at the airport, we will pick them up and take them to our preferred hotel to stay with other campers who are in the same situation. At the end of the camp we will deliver them back to the hotel or straight to the airport depending on arrangements.

WHAT TO BRING:

Most of the equipment, all camping gear and food will be provided for the camp. This includes bikes, kayaks, surf boards, wetsuits, beach games equipment, tents, etc. You will need to bring these things:

CLOTHING - dress for all possible weather types. Although we chose the camp to be in the sunniest time of the year in BC, sunny weather is not guaranteed. Swimsuit, hat, raingear, shoes and hiking boots, T-shirts, shorts, long pants for evening excursions, towel.

PERSONAL STUFF- whatever it is that you need everyday in the bathroom-we will leave that up to you!

WHAT YOU MAY BRING:

SPORT EQUIPMENT- skate board, own skim board, any board games, books or other small items.

WHAT YOU MAY NOT BRING:

DANGEROUS GOODS- no lighters, knifes, bb guns, paintball guns, magazines, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, electronic devices other than cameras, cell phones or music players. No video games please.

All participants will sign a contract which will provide us with an option to remove anyone bringing with or using any of the banned items. A person can be sent home if their behavior compromises the experience and fun for other.

ESC offer a disciplined but fun environment, with emphasis on safety and life time experiences.

CAMP SAFETY

Our goal is to ensure the safest environment possible. We have a ratio of 6 campers to 1 leader for most activities and 3 campers to 1 leader for surfing. All leaders have a substantial experience leading youth group activities and they all have first aid training. At least one instructor has Wilderness First Aid training. Each camp is limited to only 12 participants. There is usually one support staff in addition to both leaders.

2008 Camp leaders include Martin Schoenberg -BHKin, Ashley Schmidt- BC Elementary School Teacher and Marilyn Bening - Youth Counselor.