Chesterman Beach, Tofino Live Cam

Chesterman Beach runs across this webcam view at Tofino, on the western coast of Vancouver Island in Canada. Wet sand and rock shelves fill the foreground at low tide, with surf breaking beyond and forest running down to the beach behind.

This coast faces the open Pacific and takes swell all winter, which made Tofino the surfing town of Canada — people are in the water here in December in thick wetsuits. At low tide a sandbar links the beach to a small island offshore.

The tide moves a long way across this flat shore and changes the frame completely twice a day. Winter storms are an attraction in themselves and fill the lodges along the beach.