Visiting Vancouver
The first thing we do when we’re in a city for any length of time is to pick up a Hop on Hop off bus. Unlike the many red varieties, this one was operated by Gray Line – Westcoast Sightseeing. There are two routes, the blue and the green and as we needed to find out a bit more about joining our cruise, we made our way down to Canada Place to check out the visitor centre and pick up our tickets. We would be all set to start exploring further afield on our return from Alaska and Canada Place is an interesting area to visit anyway as it’s home to Fly Over Canada, the Olympic Cauldron, the Seaplane terminal and the Digital Orca as well as being the perfect place to check out the cruise ships.
Vancouver isn’t a flat city, so it’s good to check out the transport options. We walked around Gastown to visit the Steam Clock as it seemed to be quite quiet at the time. This famous landmark is one of the world’s oldest steam-powered clocks, located on the corner of Cambie and Water Street. The clock was originally built to cover a steam grate that was part of Vancouver’s steam-heating system as a way to harness the steam and to prevent street people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather. I doubt that people would have slept much anyway as it lets off steam and whistles every 15 minutes!
The Hop on Hop off bus is a great way to explore Stanley Park as it takes you around Coal Harbour to the popular totem poles and the Vancouver Aquarium. It then follows the seawall to Lions Gate Bridge and then takes a long sweep back to English Bay and the A-maze-ing Laughter sculpture and the huge Inukshuk. If it’s summer and there’s lots to do, you could easily hire a bike or a scooter and spend the whole day there. The gardens are beautiful and there are all sorts of events and exhibitions to look out for, but for us, it was enough to just take the ride around. If you want something at a slower pace, there are also narrated horse-drawn tours or you could walk one of the 27kms of marked forest trails or even plan a picnic on one of the beaches. We ventured over Burrard Bridge on the bus, through Kitsilano and decided that Granville Island would be our lunch stop. This is an all-weather foodie heaven with an indoor market featuring a fascinating assortment of colourful food and handcrafted food product stores and small streets full of unique gifts. If you go walkabout, you will also see the colourful ‘Giants’. Six silos, each 70 feet tall, were once all boring grey, but now feature a colourful crew of giant people. Half of them face the boats on False Creek, and the other three look inward, towards the Ocean Concrete plant and are among the most photographed things in Vancouver. Our ticket also included use of the False Creek Ferry which meant we could explore a bit more of the waterside parks on both side of the creek in the afternoon before making our way back to base. Both of the routes pass through Chinatown, so we had a look at the Millenium Gate and the Dr Sun Chinese Garden the next day, but we also had other plans!
The Capilano Suspension Bridge is an absolute must do if you have the time. You can’t miss the green and blue buses around the city adorned with views to tempt you away from the shops. There are four pick-up points around the city and it’s a free shuttle bus that takes you to the door. So – is this just a bridge that you look at? No - the bridge itself is 450 feet long, 230 feet above the canyon floor and has been gently swaying in the breeze since 1889! Obviously the wonders of engineering weren’t around back then, so the bridge evolved to it’s present design in 1956. We were given a ‘passport’ on arrival and this is a great thing for kids and adults to do along your way around the park. There are complimentary tours on the cliffwalk side and nature tours on the rainforest side every hour. Kia’Palano was interesting to see the history of how and why the original bridge was made and also features totem poles where the historical connection between First Nations’ culture and the natural world is highlighted.
On the Nature’s Edge boardwalk you can see the remains of a 46 ton tree that fell onto the bridge in 2006 during a severe winter storm. The tree snapped in half, but the bridge held firm. If you have any doubts about taking the walk for your must have selfie, the new cables are reputed to be able to hold 97 fully grown elephants or one fully loaded jumbo jet.
Completed in 2011, the Capilano Cliffwalk is notable for the unique circular shaped section that curves out from the canyon wall and is supported by several cable stays that are connected to one anchor. It doesn’t have as much movement as the main bridge, but as it’s much narrower (you can hold on to both sides at the same time) and has clear glass viewing platforms, it’s definitely worth the extra walk. Now, one thing to mention, this is an area of beautiful rainforest, so don’t be surprised if it rains! Free ponchos are available and you definitely need sensible walking shoes.
Last, but definitely not least, we went whale watching from Granville Island with Prince of Whales Adventures. They operate zodiacs, cruisers and catamarans for half or full day trips and we chose the 74-person semi-covered, custom-built express cruiser. It was very comfortable and there’s a certified marine naturalist aboard each trip they offer. They also guarantee whale sightings, so if you see everything but a whale, you can go again for free another day. We saw water spouts often at a distance and we knew from the radio that there were whales on the move fairly close to us. What we didn’t expect was a lone female to breach beside us - and the rules are that if we’re already that close, we have to stay put. So, we stopped dead in the water and the whale was showing off to us almost close enough to touch on one side of the boat and then swimming under us to surface again on the other side. The whole time the crew were taking photos and the whale was finally identified as a female called Windy. Whale tails are like fingerprints with no two the same and she hadn’t been sighted this close to shore for a couple of years. A wonderful end to our Canadian adventure!