Vancouver Island Local Customs

Vancouver Island is commonly referred to by locals as the island. Even on the mainland, if you hear people talking about "heading over to the island" - you can be certain that they're not talking about Hawaii! Unless of course, they happen to own a cottage on one of the many other islands (like the Gulf Islands), but if the context is not readily available or obvious to you, then it's safe to assume that "the island" means Vancouver Island.

Once you're on the island, locals tend to break it down by region. And so on, and so on. For a proper break-down and understanding of Vancouver Island's distinct regions, take a look at www.vancouverisland.com.

The only oddity is Tofino. Tofino is the name of a small fishing village located on the western coast of the island. And yet, over the past few years it has developed into a colloquialism for the entire 40km coastline south of Tofino (which includes Long Beach, the Pacific Rim National Park, Chesterman Beach, Mackenzie Beach, Cox Bay, and even Ucluelet!). So when people are telling you that you must go to Tofino, they're usually not stressing about the actual townsite, but the entire coastline surrounding the area.

Ucluelet is often called "Ukie" amongst those in the know. I've only ever pronounced it as it's fully spelled.

Another name that stumps first time visitors is Nanaimo. It's pronounced "Nuh-NYE-moe". Pronounce it any other way, and you'll stick out like a tourist.

And this brings me to the best advice I can give you if you want to stick out as a tourist. To do that, all you have to do is call the island Victoria Island, and the rest will fall into place!