Along the way we could see the smoke from all the forest fires hanging over the mountains. This is a terrible year for fires in Canada as well as at home.
When we arrived in the harbor we planned to go straight to the False Creek fuel dock but just as we arrived a 120' yacht pulled up to the dock just ahead of us. We knew he would be there for awhile so we decided to in to Quayside Marina and get tied up. We will probably run over tomorrow to get another 100 gallons of fuel. It may be a little rough when we head south to home so Bob wants to have extra fuel for ballast as well as so we can run faster to smooth out some of the rocking.
False Creek is a very busy harbor and what amazed me was how oblivious paddle boarders and kayakers are to the big boats coming up the channel. Bob had to honk our horn to get these paddle boarders to move off to the side and even then they did not seem in a hurry. The first photo shows them but also shows the big yacht that beat us to the fuel dock. The little AquaBuses that navigate the creek are a great way to travel around Vancouver in the False Creek area.
There are many high rise condominiums all along False Creek. Many have been purchased by Asians looking for investment opportunities while remaining in their own countries. The government finally added a 15% tax to foreigners purchasing property to help discourage the practice. We talked to a gentleman who is planning to move here and is looking at purchasing a slip for his boat. He said they are considered to be "condos" and one 50' slip costs $450,000! He said he would rather pay 15% tax on a boat slip and just live on his boat than millions for a high rise condo and then pay the 15%. This picture shows one of the many buildings along the waterway. I thought the architecture was very intriguing.
After we got docked, Bob and I took our bicycles out for the first time. They were very fun to arrive and did very well. They are foldable so stored in bags easily in the guest stateroom. Vancouver has a beautiful walkway all the way around False Creek. It is well marked for pedestrians as well as bicyclists (both ways!). Today we rode over to Granville Public Market which was about a 6 mile ride. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time.
Jack and Moon were very excited to meet up with Jack's son Patrick, his wife Chancey, and their darling kids Kate and Thomas. They had a great time exploring grandma and grandpa's boat. It was fun to see them and made me very anxious to get our own grandkids out on the boat again.
Last night we ate dinner on the boat and then just relaxed. Next to us was a 150' yacht named After Eight. We saw it here last year and did a little research. It is owned by the largest GM dealer in Canada. He has 8 kids so named the boat "After Eight" which works well! It is truly amazing to see. It has its own locked gate on the dock and when they leave to go somewhere they can remove the gate. There are several crew members on board and there seem to be a lot of guests coming and going.
