New boats and old boats and and great food in Vancouver
Wednesday was a slower day than the previous couple during which we had walked many miles exploring Vancouver. We thought that 4 days would allow plenty of time, but it hasn’t – once again, we’ll be leaving Vancouver with many things still on the “to-do” list.
This was the view from the desk in our room at the Westin Bayshore at 07:12.
Vancouver has many, many great water features, and the one out front at the Bayshore is lovely (there are others around the property as well).
One of the more interesting new construction projects we saw, with one original wall being incorporated into the new structure. This is beside the Marine Building.
Our first experience was to be a ride on the SeaBus. The route to it took us through the Waterfront station of the SkyTrain…
…with a look down at the West Coast Express train, a weekday commuter rail service out to several communities in the Fraser Valley…
… and a peek at the Seven Seas Navigator berthed at Canada Place.
When I was a kid, fishboats by the hundreds were moored around Vancouver harbour but very few remain today.
The container port had no ships docked but many freighters were anchored in both the harbour and English Bay. Seems odd.
Nearing the SeaBus dock in North Vancouver.
Tugs fascinate me – and other people, apparently 🙂 This is the Seaspan Kestrel.
My justification for going on the SeaBus was partially to see the Lonsdale Quay Market, but it was much smaller than I remember.
Looking back at Canada Place, with a SeaBus in the foreground.
A closer look at Canada Place during our SeaBus ride back to downtown Vancouver. The cost for the little sea cruise was $7.50 total for the two of us.
We met my niece Sari for lunch, and she suggested a new Mexican restaurant a block away from her office. Patron Tacos & Cantina was an excellent choice – great food, atmosphere, and prices are certainly the perfect recipe for success in a tough market.
The very impressive main courtyard of the Vancouver Central Library is a few feet from my niece’s office.
We decided that another ho-ho bus was a good way to get to our next intended destination, the Maritime Museum. I shot this water feature at the Sun Life Tower on the way to catch the Vancouver Trolley bus.
We got to the Maritime Museum at 3:10, and I started off with a quick look at the Heritage Harbour, initially attracted by this replica of the sloop Northern Spray, the first vessel to complete a solo circumnavigation of the Earth.
There are some great little beaches on both sides of the Maritime Museum.
The main building of the Vancouver Maritime Museum was built around the historic R.C.M.P. Arctic schooner St. Roch.
The Maritime Museum is a modelmaker’s dream – the variety and quality of boat and ship models is quite remarkable.
This model shows the moment the Titanic broke in half and started her plunge to the bottom of the sea.
There’s an excellent display of Vancouver’s “The World” newspapers from the hours and days following the sinking of the Titanic. This headline, as we all know, turned out to be dramatically inaccurate.
Cathy at the helm of a ship in Vancouver Harbour.
How unusual to see “Visitors Welcome” on the window of a museum workshop. The craftsman on duty was more than happy to talk about any aspect of modelling, and showed me an impressive ship he was building from sheets of brass.
There’s a large area for kids, with lots of displays and interactive stuff related to boats and the sea.
It was the St. Roch that lured me back here, and we began our tour of her with a 15-minute video.
A life-size bronze of Captain Henry Larsen on the deck of the St. Roch. Whenever I see exhibits such as this, I’m reminded that Canadians do a very poor job of recognizing real heroes. The heroes that I’d like kids to look up to don’t play hockey, they do things like Larsen did, exploring the Arctic.
An “Oceanview Cabin” on the St. Roch – our cabin on the Celebrity Millennium tomorrow will be quite a bit nicer than this!
The main crew area on the lower deck. The bunk seen in the photo above is at the extreme upper right of this photo.
A close-up look at the hull of the St. Roch, specially designed and built to withstand crashing through and being pinched by ice during multi-year voyages.
Right on schedule at 4:57, our trolley arrived to pick us up, and I was very pleased to see that Steve, who dropped us off, was still driving. He does an exceptional tour.
Cathy’s choice for dinner was the p2b Bistro & Bar at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel. It was another superior experience – my halibut was as fine as any I’ve ever had (and I eat a lot of halibut), and Cathy felt the same about her New Zealand lamb. The spectacular view was a bonus.
It started raining while we were having dinner, but Cathy had been carrying our Westin hotel umbrella for the past couple of days and it was good to be able to finally use it! She was going to take a picture of me carrying it – riding a transit bus yesterday and carrying an umbrella the very next day!! 🙂
When we got back to the Bayshore we did some more exploring of the hotel’s facilities. The fitness centre is very well equipped – but we were about exercised out!
Our room, #910, is the one in the middle of the top floor with the curtains wide open.
A final look out our window at 9:30 before going for a very long sleep!
About The Author
