Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday wonders - V and W

V is for Vancouver; W is for Waterfront.   This is a double since I missed last week.


Yesterday, we went for a walk along the downtown waterfront.  The seawalk starts near the Waterfront Station where we arrive by  ferry from  North Vancouver (seen above) and extends into and around Stanley Park.


Where we live is surrounded by water.  There are so many different ways to travel on the water and I think we saw most of them on our walk.  This ship, Diamond Princess, is loading enough fresh supplies for the cruise  up to Alaska later in the day.  This year's season is almost over.


Wheels or air?  This paddle-wheeler takes tours of the harbor and up Indian Arm.  The seaplanes are a common way to travel up the coast and Vancouver island. 


Some like to be close to the water...the Vancouver Rowing Club is nearby. 


And there are critters in the water, too.  This harbor seal has his eye on the main chance.


Why work when the humans will do it for you? The sockeye salmon run is the biggest it's been in a hundred years.  Sport fishers bring their catch in for cleaning.  And guess who gets a hand out then?

All those boats need fuel so they draw up to the barge in the harbor.  The tankers remain aloof.  No puny 'gas stations' for them. 


We finally reach Stanley Park.  Looking back we can see even more boats in this marina and in the distance are the grassy roofs of the Convention Center.  It was such a lovely day for walking, biking, rollerblading or running in the park. 

3 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

I LOVE these pictures of the water life! My favorites are the next to last, with the big stretch of blue water, mountains, and sky. Also the cute seal! How far away from all this do you live, and how long did this whole walk take? Also, how many of these modes of transport have YOU taken? Paddle boat? Cruise? If you wanted to cruise to Alaske, it would be as simple as just driving right there?

Stephanie V said...

Ginny - it takes 15 minutes for the ferry in the first picture to go from my side of the water to where we walked which is downtown Vancouver. Yes, we can drive right to the cruise ship - but we took a taxi on our cruises. Parking is non-existent by the piers.
It doesn't take very long to walk (less than an hour) from the start to Stanley Park but we stopped for lunch along the way. I've been on the ferries and seaplanes but I'm not a very good sailor.

Joanna said...

I love, love, love the photo of the seal. See you next week.

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