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Welcome to In The Village on False Creek, a unique project inspired by Live@YVR and 365 Days of Dining. I've moved my family into this community with my mission being to showcase the myriad of things that make it awesome by bringing you a weekly scoop! |
Last week I shared the news of free kayak, canoe and dinghy parking at the City of Vancouver owned VILLAGE DOCK which opened back in December. Built to connect The Village (and Science World, whose former ferry dock is now home to Creekside Kayaks) with the existing False Creek ferry services, this dock successfully ties our little Southeastern corner to the rest of the creek by water.
From the perspective of someone who lives in the Village, it's super convenient to have this steps from our front door. For the rest the city it's equally awesome as it's a hub that connects the Seaside and Ontario bikeways, the seawall walk as well as the Main Street rapid transit routes and bus routes with the ferry service.
Two different companies run ferry services. There's The Aquabus and False Creek Ferries, and between the two of them there's a pickup every 15 minutes at the very least, between the hours of 9:25AM and 6:25PM every day. HERE is a map of their routes, False Creek Ferries goes a couple more stops than the Aquabus but from my understanding the services are almost identical.
I decided to send my son, Arlo, and his friend Penny out on a morning date to Granville Island (chaperoned, of course) so you could get a look at what you're in for taking a ferry. Here they are below waiting as the Aquabus docks...
This was their captain. He's obviously a rad dude...
No lifejackets necessary, but it helps to wear a hat...
Remember the TV show MacGyver from the 80's? If my memory serves me correctly one of these lots that contain floating houses that you pass on the way up the creek was where Macgyver's home, Land's End, was moored during the filming of the show. I think about that every time I float by, and I always wonder if the actor who played him, Richard Dean Anderson, does too...
As I'm sure you already know, upon arrival to Granville Island there is TONS to explore. If you're not familiar click HERE to visit their site and discover everything on this map and more...
As opposed to showing you everything that Penny and Arlo took in during their visit I'll simply share this photo of a sweet open air First Nations workshop that they spent time staring through the fence at. We've been going to Granville Island for years and while there are a lot of constants that we rely on (the fish in the market, the baby geese in the pond every spring, the Kids Market building) things are constantly changing and every time you visit you'll see stuff like this which either wasn't previously there or you simply didn't notice it before...
After a full morning, a quick trip back on a different Aquabus. Our little Village looks great from the water...
And they're back at The Village Dock!
3 minutes later, the kids were back at our place and getting ready for a nap (sorry, no photo).
Click the map below to see where the ferries take you, and maybe we'll see you out on the water!
Learn more at TheVillageOnFalseCreek.com and stay tuned each week as I expose unique elements of our new community.
