Vancouver's downtown skyscrapers wobble and bend, then shatter into a kaleidoscope of green-blue pieces as a seagull splashes into the water. I lift my eyes from the shimmering reflections and the real skyscrapers blink back, their ranks of polished windows catching the pale light of Canada's northern sky. The city hovers between water and clouds, liquid and beautiful.
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Few cities are graced with such a striking harbour location, let alone one shared with herons and otters, whose twitching whiskers and fishy burps accompany kayakers around False Creek. "Sometimes we get really, really lucky and see a stray whale," says my tour guide Tessa. "There are lots of cormorants too. You really don't want to linger under Burrard Bridge or you'll get pooed on."
There are cormorants on a couple of wooden pilings, wings out to dry. Seals live in False Creek too, and will occasionally lift their heads up for a popeyed and seemingly bemused look at passing kayakers. Kayak tour guides have an inquisitive favourite that they've named Albert, which sometimes hops onto paddleboards for a close encounter.
I could just have rented a kayak from Ecomarine Paddlesport Centre; False Creek is sheltered and sedate and, being an almost-enclosed bay, easy to navigate. Gliding about with a guide, however, adds a layer of informative storytelling to my outing that I quickly appreciate.
"See that shopping centre? It's called Leg-and-Boot Square. At the turn of the last century a severed leg with a boot still attached to it washed ashore there," says Tessa. "It was hung for a week in what was then just a square, but no one ever claimed it." With the insouciance of youth, she adds that eight legs have washed up around Vancouver in the last decade; on one occasion, a matching pair still attached to running shoes.
Macabre anecdotes don't dampen our mood. False Creek is typical of Vancouver in providing wide-open water vistas against a backdrop of chic glass apartment blocks and lovingly landscaped shorelines. We're right in the middle of the city, with plenty of landmarks all around. The bay is overlooked by BC Place Stadium, which looks like a crashed alien spaceship; and by Science World, an interactive museum housed in a giant metal sphere.
We glide towards Science World as two dragon boats surge in the opposite direction, water drops from furious paddles flashing in the sun. We aren't as hurried. Tessa points out Olympic Village, built for the Winter Olympics in 2010 and now a district of trendy condominiums and gastro-pubs. Then we head around the bay, through Quayside Marina under the skyscrapers of Yaletown, on past David Lam Park and sea-girt sculptures, one of which disappears at high tide.
False Creek used to be Salish territory, Tessa explains. The native people constructed a fish trap at the entrance to the bay that left fish stranded as the tide went out. Later, European settlers operated sawmills here for the burgeoning new city, and reclaimed some of the bay for railway yards and terminals. By the 1950s, False Creek had become Vancouver's industrial heartland.
"That yellow crane is about the only reminder of the old days. It belongs to a cement factory that's the only heavy industry left on Granville Island." Nearby, disused silos are painted with giant humanoid figures in multi-coloured clothes and looming yellow faces, a recent creation of Brazilian street artists.
Granville Island is no longer an island but a peninsula, thanks to land reclamation. A highly successful urban renewal project begun in the 1970s has transformed the former industrial zone into a popular urban destination, the beginning and end point of our kayak tour. It's home to an eclectic range of shops, theatres, artists' studios and seafood restaurants. The massive warehouse at its centre shelters a public market which I plunder for bread, smoked salmon and raspberries for a picnic on the shoreline. Kayaking makes you hungry, and Vancouver always satisfies.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
Air Canada flies direct to Vancouver daily from Sydney (14 hours) with domestic connections from Melbourne. Phone 1300 655 767 or see aircanada.com
STAYING THERE
The Burrard is a funky, revamped 1950s motor inn with considerable retro style, friendly staff and complimentary bicycles. Phone +1 604 681 2331, see theburrard.com
Luxury Metropolitan Hotel is a short walk from Gastown; its restaurant Diva serves excellent regional food and offers 500 wines. Phone +1 604 687 1122, see metropolitan.com
DOING THERE
Ecomarine Paddlesport Centre offers sea kayak and paddleboard tours and instruction in three Vancouver locations. False Creek tours cost $C69 ($68). Phone +1 604 689 7575, see ecomarine.com
Brian Johnston was a guest of Destination British Columbia, Tourism Vancouver and Ecomarine Paddlesport Centres
