Surf, hike, and camp your way through Spring Break with the best experiences Vancouver Island has to offer for youth.

For Spring Break (March Break) 2027, we are excited to offer a spectacular 6-day  outdoor leadership and camping journey visiting three of our favourite spots on Vancouver Island: Parksville, Tofino, and Ucluelet. It’s an epic overnight adventure teen surf-camp-road trip adventure!

While others are staying home or running away to warmer climates, we’ll be heading out into our beautiful BC coastal temperate rainforest of a backyard on an experience that proves that Tofino has so much to offer, no matter the season. In this unique youth overnight experience, youth will partake in activities such as surfing, outdoor skill-building lessons, and visits to the Roy Henry Vickers Museum, Tofino Botanical Gardens, and so many other hidden gems!

Like most of our camps, the Salty Express is also Duke of Edinburgh’s Award APPROVED. Earn your Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award with us! Click here to learn more.

While fun is always a big part of what we do, Salty Express is designed to be an educational, transformational, and challenging experience that creates independent, self-motivated, and confident youths. Here are a few of the ways we do this:

• Duke of Edinburgh’s Award: earn your Bronze, Silver, or Gold with us. Here’s how.

• Outdoor skills: Challenge yourself with camping, surfing, outdoor skills training, and more. These experiences develop universal life skills like perseverance and problem-solving, not to mention a love for nature.

• Social-emotional learning & resilience: Spending time in nature brings challenges but also opportunities for peace, reflection, and connection. This is the unbroken space and time you need to build relationships, trust, and personal transformation through a mix of one-on-one coaching, daily journaling, and group dialogues.

• Increase self-knowledge: Over five days, become introduced to some of our personal values, strengthen your decision-making skills, and learn how to set and achieve short-term goals.

• Introductory leadership training: Guided by our pillars (Independence, Community, Knowledge, Experience, and Vision), define what leadership means to you and hold yourself accountable.

• Reconnect with yourself and nature during a digital detox with no technology or external distractions. During the experience, our focus is on the youth we are sharing the journey with. As long as you’re with Fireside, it’s just delicious group meals, the smell of the cedars, and the distant crashing of waves against the shore.

• Bond with experienced and inspiring instructors who will be there for you 24-7. They’ll teach you plant identification, camp management, and so much more!

• Take to the waves in Tofino, Canada’s #1 surfing destination. No prior experience, no problem! We can arrange surfing lessons for all who need them.

• Enjoy the finest of Vancouver Island art at the Roy Henry Vickers Art Gallery.

• After a long day of exploration, there’s nothing better than S’MORES around the campfire with your new friends. Enjoy fresh, nutritious meals that you made yourself!

Fireside is proud to be one of two Duke of Edinburgh ‘Trained Activity Providers’ in Canada. The Duke of Edinburgh’s award is an internationally recognized award that accelerates youths’ journeys into post-secondary education, careers, self-confidence, and independence. This expedition is compatible with achieving your Bronze, Silver, or Gold Adventurous Journey (both practice and qualifying), or your Gold Project and beyond. Click here to learn how to earn the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

We will depart from the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in the morning on the 11:00 AM ferry, heading to Rathtrevor Campground. Here, we will learn how to set up our campsite- tents, kitchen, and tarps galore! We will explore the stunning beaches and forest and share our first camping meal together. Then, it’s an early night to prepare for a big day ahead.

Up early, we will pack up our camp and say goodbye to Rathrevor beach and head to Tofino! On our way, we will stop at the famous Coombs Market and Cathedral Grove to check out some incredible old-growth trees. Once in Tofino, we’ll set up camp (glamping style) at the stunning Surf Grove campground, a peaceful campground with excellent services such as picnic tables, washrooms and shower facilities, beach access, and more! In the evening, we’ll take a sunset walk along the beach to visit some secret tidal pools (we’ll have masks for students to really check them out!) and participate in a beach photography lesson. We’ll end the day around the campfire for some stories of Tofino and the West Coast.

Up early, we’ll eat a hearty breakfast and do some team-building. We’ll practice our outdoor skills (knots, tarps, and outdoor cooking lessons). We will pack our lunches and head into town to explore. In town, we will visit the iconic Tofino Museum and art galleries to learn more about the area. After exploring the urban zone, we will head to the Tonquin Trail for a stunning

rainforest and beach hike and lunchtime picnic. Then, we will head back to camp for dinner and a fire. Here we will share stories and practice our campfire songs.

In the morning, we will participate in a sunrise ceremony, eat a delicious breakfast, and participate in an afternoon surfing lesson with Surf Sisters. After riding the waves, we will return to camp for free time (siestas, slack lining, beach time). For dinner, the group will participate in an Iron Chef cooking competition, followed by a student skit night by the campfire.

One more time to surf (morning) before departing for Rathetrevor Park. The group will depart in the afternoon and head to Horne Caves and take in the eastside of Vancouver Island.

For our final day, we’ll wake up, pack, and depart for Nanaimo with a few stops along the way.

On an evening ferry leaving at 4 PM, we will debrief our adventure and enjoy our last moments together as we wind down the experience. Students will purchase their dinner on the ferry with their own money.