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Published: October 7th 2009
English Bay
View from beach along Point Grey Road.Beautiful English Bay
Granted the Travelling Canucks are not beach babes, but we love sitting like blobs on a log at the beach, walking or cycling along the seawall, or just driving by the beach to enjoy the scenery! You might find us at the beach watching the sunset, beachcombing for shells or shutterbugging, you just won't find us in bathing suits!
With approximately 18 km/11 miles of beaches surrounding Vancouver's English Bay to explore, there are miles of sand to make sandcastles and lots of vantage points to watch windsurfers, kiteboarders and sailors catching the wind in their sails! On weekends, Papa Canuck and Canuck Junior have been known to head to the Jericho Sailing Centre to rent a laser to go sailing in English Bay on warm summer days when the wind is up!
The name 'English Bay' commemorates the meeting of the British Captain George Vancouver and Spanish captains, Valdes and Galiano, in 1792. The beach at English Bay(aka First Beach), once called 'Ay-Yul-Shun' by the First Nations people meaning 'soft under feet,' was established in 1893 with a few beach shacks. After sand was added in 1898 and a walking pier with a glassed-in dance
hall called "The Prom" and wooden bathhouse were built in the early 1900s, the beach at English Bay became a hot spot! Although those early landmarks are long gone, English Bay remains as popular today with visitors and locals.
The Burrard Street Bridge, a steel truss Art Deco four pier bridge built in 1932, connects the downtown with Kitsilano. The concrete towers connected by overhead galleries are embellished with architectural and sculptural details, including busts of Captain George Vancouver and Sir Harry Burrard-Neale in ship prows. Heavy concrete pierced handrails, originally topped with decorative street lamps, were designed so that at a speed of 50 km/hr, motorists could see through them with an uninterrupted view of the harbour. The sold bronze braziers, glazed to represent a fire burning in them, are mounted on pylons at both ends of the bridge as a tribute to Canadian World War I prisoners of war, who huddled around open fires in their prison camps.
The waters of English Bay are often dotted with hundreds of boats, including freighters waiting at anchor to load cargo at Vancouver's port in Burrard Inlet. Over the summer months, sailboats, yachts, speedboats, canoes and ocean kayaks pass
Inukshuk at English Bay
Stone landmark used by the Inuit of the Arctic for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for hunting grounds, or as a food cache. Also, the Inukshuk happens to be the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Logo. under the Burrard Street Bridge and can be seen from the shoreline.
English Bay is a great place for people-watching, especially when English Bay plays host to:
• Vancouver's Celebration of Light, an annual two week International pyro-musical fireworks competition. Held in late July/early August, it is the largest off-shore fireworks display in the world with 100s of thousands of spectators gathering at English Bay and other vantage points.
• Vancouver’s Pride Parade and Festival, which coincides with the Festival of Lights, features a 20 block parade attracting 500,000 spectators, gay community members and tourists.
• Vancouver’s Annual Polar Bear Swim on January 1st. Going strong since 1920, The Vancouver Polar Bear Swim Club is one of the largest and oldest Polar Bear Clubs in the world.
Along Denman Street, beach-goers can dine on Asian, Mediterranean, seafood, burgers, pizza ........and the list goes on! Check out our favourites:
• Nat's New York Pizzeria
• Mondo's Ice Cream
• Cupcakes
• Raincity Grill
• Delilah's - Great martini bar too!
• Cafe de Paris
Beaches Lining the North and South Shores of English Bay
English Bay's North Shore Although the beach at English Bay is the most popular sunbathing, swimming, and sunset-watching beach in downtown Vancouver,
Spectacular Floral Displays
at English Bay. One of Vancouver's beautiful spots! visitors and West End residents also have the choice of other beaches on the north shore of English Bay:
• Sunset Beach, located near the Burrard Street Bridge over-looking Vanier Park, features the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, an Olympic size natatorium built in 1974 which replaced the city's first indoor pool, Crystal Pool, where Mama Canuck learned to swim! Biking, walking and inline skating paths wind above the beach area, leading to Stanley Park to the west and Yaletown to the east. You can hop on a ferry to False Creek and Granville Island at the Aqua Bus Pier.
• Second Beach, located in Stanley Park, is Vancouver's child-friendliest beach with playgrounds and heated fresh water outdoor pool.
• Third Beach is one of Vancouver's naturally secluded and sandy beaches sheltered by Stanley Park's trees.
English Bay's South Shore Along the south shore of English Bay, there are lots of fun beach and cultural activities to enjoy at:
• Vanier Park, just west of the Burrard St. Bridge, is home to the Pacific Space Centre, Vancouver Museum, and Vancouver Maritime Museum, where you can hop on a ferry to False Creek and Granville Island. From June to September, Vanier Park is also home
Kitsilano Beach
Rated one of the sexiest beaches in the world! to Bard on the Beach, where 60,000 people attend the Shakespeare Festival annually. The Travelling Canucks highly recommend watching an evening performance of a Shakespearean play. Bard on the Beach is always a highlight of our summers! Vanier Park is also one of the best locations for boat watching and kite flying!
• Kitsilano Beach - Geared for teens to thirties with great views of the Bay, West End, Stanley Park and North Shore Mountains, it is rated as one of the world's sexiest beaches. Kitsilano Pool, an oceanside heated outdoor salt water pool, beach volleyball, tennis and basketball courts, and playground make for a very active, lively beach experience. A fine dining restaurant, The Watermark, has one of the best patios to watch all the beach action, bikini babes and buff dudes!
• Jericho Beach is known for its naturally sandy beach that caters to sailors, ocean kayakers and windsurfers. Playing fields, tennis courts, Vancouver Youth Hostel and West Point Grey Community Centre at Aberthau, a lovely heritage building, are within walking distance of the beach. Check out the great cafe at the Jericho Sailing Club for lunch.
• Locarno Beach is located between Jericho and Spanish Banks.
• Spanish Banks' East and
West Beaches are considered the best beaches in the city. At low tide, we grab our shovels, buckets and head out into the bay to dig out one of the freighters that appear to be stuck in the sand!
• Wreck Beach, a popular clothing-optional beach located in Pacific Spirit Regional Park located west of Spanish Banks, stretches approximately 6.5 km from Acadia Beach, in the north, to the Booming Grounds Creek on the north arm of the Fraser River. Since "naturalists" consider it good etiquette to join the unclothed rather than just observe them and photography is frowned upon - best for the shutterbugging Travelling Canucks to visit on cold days!
Best of Beach Life
Because our Pacific Northwest beaches are anything but "tropical", grey sand and muddy waters are typical! Nevertheless, whether you visit our vast open beaches or small rocky coves, our beaches offer locals and visitors beautiful vistas and opportunities for wildlife viewing, boating, aquatic and beach sports.
Here are some of the Travelling Canucks' top picks:
Best Socializing Beach • Kitsilano Beach - also rated one of the sexiest beaches in the world!
• Beaches at English Bay, White Rock, Third Beach and Dundarave are
White Rock Pier
White Rock has great Dine & View locations for lunch on a sunny day and for sunset-watching over dinner! Best Beach in a Storm! the runner-ups!
Best Beach in the Lower Mainland • Centennial Beach on the east side of sunny Tsawassen's peninsula features miles of white sand and a tidal flow from Georgia Straight that keeps the water the cleanest of all beaches in the Lower Mainland.
Best Rocky Beach • Lighthouse Park, located on Marine Drive in West Vancouver, is a great place to explore tidal pools!
Best Beach Pier • White Rock is famous for the 486-tonne white rock which lies east of its pier that stretches 500metres/1,500feet into the shallow, warm waters of the Semiahmoo Bay. Taking a short walk on a long pier is a fun way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon!
Best Historic Beach • Beach below the Hastings Mill Store Museum, Vancouver's oldest standing structure where European explorers first encountered the local First Nations people. Starting at Brock House, a heritage building at Jericho Beach Park, walk eastward along the shore past the swanky Jericho Tennis Club and Royal Vancouver Yacht Club until you arrive at the beach sheltered by sand cliffs on the south side and the yacht club's breakwater to the north. Beware of the tides when exploring the secluded, quiet shores along Point
Marina at Granville Island
Hop on a boat and tour English Bay or go Whale Watching in Howe Sound! Grey Road since high tides can trap you!
• Tower Beach has two tall concrete gun towers that are relics from World War II. Besides the nesting herons, swimming sea lions, and flying kingfishers and bald eagles that can be spotted in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, beware of "Naturalists" since Tower Beach is part of the clothing-optional Wreck Beach.
Best Marinas • Coal Harbour, Downtown Vancouver.
• Granville Island and False Creek, Vancouver.
• Horseshoe Bay and Fisherman's Cove, West Vancouver.
• Deep Cove, North Vancouver.
Best Dive Sites • Indian Arm - Croker Island, West Cates Park and Belcarra Bay located in Belcarra Park.
• Lighthouse Park and Whytecliffe Marine Park, West Vancouver.
• Porteau Cove Provincial Park is situated on the most southerly fjord in North America in Howe Sound, which is 38 km north of Vancouver on the Ski to Sky Highway. 20 km south of Squamish and 8.5 km south of Britannia Beach, it features a sunken old ship for scuba divers to explore.
• Seymour Bay off Bowen Island, a 15 minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay.
Best Wildlife Viewing • Fraser River Estuary - George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta offers river banks and marshlands that are the
Kitesurfing at Spanish Banks
Fun on windy days! Easier than windsurfing, but don't forget your wetsuit - the water is cold! wintering grounds for 230 species of birds. Canada geese, ducks and teals, marsh hawks, coots, blackbirds, gulls, doves and great blue herons are nesting residents. 20,000 snow geese migrate from October to March before heading to Russia’s Wrangel Island, off the coast of northeastern Siberia
(which I can see from my house!). Fall and winter are the best seasons to visit the Reifel Sanctuary.
• The Capilano River Fish Hatchery in Capilano River Regional Park teems with piscicultural activity year-round. Spy on the fry through glass walls that surround their tanks - it's like a giant aquarium set in a rock canyon!
• Whale watching excursions from Vancouver and Steveston in Richmond.
• Winter is the best time to walk the dike trail in the Brackendale Eagle Reserve, located north of the Squamish Estuary on the Squamish River. In winter, eagles gather in the bare branches of the black cottonwood trees that tower above the river. Some eagles nest in the summer as evidenced by the large nests visible in the trees in winter. Don't miss the large wooden eagle carvings at strategic points. At the Squamish Estuary, elegant trumpeter swans also winter in the Estuary. Bundle up and take a walk to
Fishing on the Golden Mile
Waterfromt properties with highest price per square foot in one of the most expensive cities in North America! see them!
• Lighthouse Park and Whytecliffe Marine Park, located in West Vancouver, are best for tidal pool gazing.
Best Windy Beach • Jericho Beach (sailing)
• Squamish (#1 for windsurfing)
• Garry Point in Steveston, Richmond (windsurfing)
Most Famous Beaches in British Columbia • Long Beach on Vancouver Island is famous for endless stretches of sand with great beachcombing for treasures offered up by the Pacific Ocean and the rainforest. It's not called a rainforest for nothing - it rains over 200 days per year for a total average rainfall of 3 metres/10 feet per year!
• Wreck Beach, Canada’s first and largest legal clothing-optional beach, is rated as one of the world's best nude beaches. Located at the confluence of the Fraser River with the Straits of Georgia and English Bay, Wreck Beach draws more than 500,000 visitors annually for the privacy provided by the surrounding white cliffs and forest growth! Best not to bring your camera when the weather is warm - oglers are also not welcome! Ergo - no photos of Wreck Beach yet - beach weather continues into early October!
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