A couple weekends ago, a friend of a friend and I went for a drive. He had driven me around downtown Vancouver, showing off Gas Town, the Olympic Torch, Stanley Park and North Vancouver, after a birthday party. He thought it was time I saw the rest of Vancouver, or what I’ve come to call “Greater Vancouver.”
Like “Greater Chicago,” it encompasses outlying areas, what we in the States call “suburbs.” So “Greater Vancouver” consists of Richmond, Surrey and, way out, Steveson. Granted Richmond is a place unto itself, as if Asia decided it needed a solid footprint in Canada. Richmond is where many of the food pictures of places where I can’t read the menu are taken. Think of Chinatown in Chicago, except the size of Chicago, complete with signs, menus, etc. in Chinese characters.
There is, quite literally, nothing in Surrey.
Steveston, on the other hand, is a quaint touristy town, most well known for its fish and chips and whale watching business. The picture above is taken from a dock we had wandered down to see what last remnants of the day’s catch remained. That’s one of the cool things about Vancouver: strolling down to the docks at Granville Island for fresh off-the-boat seafood. It’s best to go with someone who knows what to avoid as not all fish boats are equal, but if you go by yourself, observe and trust your gut.
There are no mountains to disrupt the view of the water, and no mountains to disrupt the view past the water.
Well. OK. The mountains are well off into the distance…or perhaps those are just clouds. I was rather smitten with the view on such a beautiful evening. The water was calm, the clouds were wisps and the sun was setting.
Steveston, it turns out, is where you can go to catch a boat to go whale watching.
Boat, mind you, is generous. It really is an over-sized blue life raft. I stood on the dock, staring at, judging its length and thinking of those animal books that show you a whale across two pages, with a shark, a horse and a human below in order to give a sense of size and scale. And then that photo of a whale leaping above a sail boat popped into my head. How exactly did one avoid getting capsized in an over-sized life raft while whale watching?
It was after 6pm. The business was close so there was no one to ask or inquire further about whale watching.
My guess is that the boats stay pretty clear of whales, and I’m guessing Killer Whales up here. Boats probably give a wide berth. The object is to see the whales, not mingle and reach out and touch them like at the zoo. My curiosity got the better of me so I Googled “whale watching in Vancouver” when I got home. It didn’t offer much on cap-sizing while whale watching, but I did learn that there are shuttle buses that run from down to Steveston, it’s season runs through October, the whale watching trip on the boat is about four hours and is roughly $120CN.
It’s pretty a day long excursion, and might very well be worth it. Once. I most definitely need a waterproof digital camera first.