Last Saturday, Catalina and I went for a kayak tour. Nominally it was to celebrate her birthday, but I’ve been wanting to give kayaking a try for awhile. Once a year, in spring, Costco will have a sale on kayaks, about $100 off, and I’ve always imagined that it would be a lot of fun to do that. Thankfully, cooler heads have prevailed and I have never actually purchased a kayak. I mean, where would I put it?
The tour was a way to actually see what a kayak is like. We got a double-kayak (so that Catalina wasn’t stuck propelling herself) and a guide who took us on a two hour tour of False Creek.
It was nice. You get a different perspective of the place when you are on the water.
We got to learn a bit about the history of the inlet and some interesting landmarks. I found out the cement plant is not as much a blight as I thought it was; the fact that it is on False Creek means there is a lot less pollution when they can ship in the gravel they need by barge. One of the houses floating on the water has a “basement” with a window so you can see underwater; probably more useful if they could clean up the water there.
For me, the highlight was to actually seeing under Science World. (The place is technically now called “Telus World of Science”, but no native of Vancouver ever calls it that. The old name is still the standard.) I always thought the big globe was on land, with just the perimeter seawall being above the water, but the whole thing is actually above the water. There are stilts and piles supporting it, and, if you were so inclined, you could float quite far underneath it. There are some floating logs preventing that from being too easy, but there are times when I have seen them moved aside.
We did see a seal and some otters.
I will admit that towards the end, my seat was getting uncomfortable. So two hours was almost the perfect length of time for the tour. We both had a good time, but I am now more sure that I do not need a kayak for myself. My perspectives will now have to be confined to just running the Seawall.