Vancouver, BC

We were scheduled for a boys trip to Loreto this week but a specific gentleman (and I use the term gentleman loosely :)) was going to be at our Loreto hotel for the same week and I had no desire to expose my kids and friends to him. So we canceled that trip and rebooked to Vancouver with the whole family! What a GREAT decision.

We visited Vancouver 8 years ago for a half a day prior to the start of our Cruise. Did not see much of the city other than Granville Island.

Vancouver had some of the best oysters available. The boys and I devoured 15 dozen oysters in 4 days. Those were just appetizers!

This time we spent 6 wonderful days there and had some incredible food, took a city tour, a food tour and had Afternoon Tea twice. The boys got to fish for sturgeon one day too.

It has been awhile since we’ve eaten food of this quality. Vancouver is a great foodie town. We had some incredible food in Hong Kong but this was different.

 

Granville Island was very enjoyable. We ate a breakfast and lunch there and purchased food items that are delicious. We brought home many items from Granville!

We originally booked a salmon trip out on the sound but the fishing was spotty so I inquired on some fly fishing close by. The guide said we could fish the Pitt River that is only 3o minutes away and he would provide pick up and drop off service from our apartment. They would also provide all the waders and fly gear the 3 of us need. The target fish were 2-4 pound Dolly Vardens on swinging flies. All sounds great right?! Well may be so but then he told me the cost…with tip the total cost would have been over $1700!! Yes for just one day of fishing Dollys to 4 pounds. To me it was not worth it. So we changed gears and decide to fish the Fraser River for Sturgeon for half the cost for a 6 hour day. Still pricey but the guide said there was a near 100% chance of getting into a big fish.

The owner of Silversides Fishing Adventures’ wife Louise picked is up at 6:15am and after a 70 minute drive, we arrived at the boat launch. When we got there for a scheduled 7:30 launch, our guide was not there. Apparently our guide needed his truck fixed and left it with a mechanic. The mechanic left town without saying a word and still had the truck.

So now what??  The owner of  Silversides (Brian) was launched at the dock with his 2 clients. After over an hour of waiting around and waiting to see what they wanted to do with the situation, we were asked if it would be OK to jump onto Brian’s boat and share the day with his 2 clients. Evidently his clients landed 4 bruisers the day before and were very tired and sore so they agreed to let us join them. Turns out they are a Father and son duo from Singapore on a 5 day trip to Vancouver just to catch sturgeon. We had plenty to talk about. They were really nice and great to spend a day with. Eddie is the father and Ben is the son that just graduated from college in Singapore and will start Veterinary School in Australia in the fall. They both have fish worldwide and provided us with some great stories.


 

We only hooked 2 fish that day but one was between 6 and 7 feet. That fish beat the boys up! The guide even told me at the beginning of the trip that there is no way the boys could handle these fish. I replied “These boys have been fishing for a long time and have hooked some pretty good size fish”. Brian was NOT impressed. He stated that he has never met a 16,17, even 18 year old that can handle these fish. He completed his statement with “The fish will tear them up”. I said OK but under my breath I thought he was being a little too “soft”……Boy was I WRONG!! I pulled on the big fish and with the drag set very tight, I had not felt a fish pull that hard…..ever! Perhaps it was because we were still anchored at the time but it felt like the proverbial “freight train”. I handed it off to Matthew and with in a few minutes he was ready to pass it off to Michael. They tag teamed for the rest of the fight. Brian estimated the fish to weigh in at about 180 pounds. After landing and pics, the boys arms were noodles and for the next 4 days they complained of very sore arms.

I have landed sturgeon over 6 feet long on the Sacramento river and none of those pulled like this one. The girth on the Fraser fish is a bit larger than the Sac fish. Maybe that’s the reason why? Or…I’ve become a cream puff!

On our City tour the last stop was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The lines were very long and there was an hour wait to get to the bridge so we decided to have lunch at the Cliff House restaurant inside the park. It was a good meal but the line was still long when we finished eating. Our guide did not plan to be there that long so we took a few pictures and left. That was a waste of the entrance fee but at least we got to see the bridge. And in hindsight since I’m afraid of heights, I would not have walked on that bridge anyway!

We rented an apartment just outside Yaletown and it was walking distance to just about everything. The city traffic was light compared to other metropolitan cities. The weather was a comfortable 67-75 most of the time we were there. Uber is not available there so we relied on taxis and Limo service a couple times for airport transport. With the 5 of us it was always more difficult to find taxis so we would have to travel in 2 taxis sometimes.

This was a great substitute for Loreto. Good to have the family together on a trip and the weather was much cooler than in the valley (and Loreto!). Vancouver is on the repeat list!

Restaurants visited:
Fanny Bay Oyster Bar
Le Crocodile
Boulevard
Homer St Cafe
TUC Craft Kitchen
Wedgewood Hotel (Afternoon Tea)

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