Vancouver Outdoors from Sunrise to Sunset

Vancouver for a month!

Sunrise in Vancouver

After a short trip in Barcelona, I headed over to Canada to stay around for an entire month. The people are extremely friendly and even the main cities seem to be less polluted than the US. Yes, most parts are cold, but the Vancouver area where I traveled to is possibly the warmest area of Canada. It's also got plenty of outdoor activities, which contrasts heavily against the ultra-modern army of glass buildings.

I never like traveling to Canada because the immigration is nearly as strict as the US. Even as a US citizen that share the same entry as Canadian citizens (US and Canada have an immigration alliance). It's never a pleasant experience, but it is amazing past the Canadian customs.

View of Vancouver from the boat

I started my first day of exploring Vancouver at 6am to get up and fish some salmon. We hired a fishing boat with a guide, which I highly recommend doing unless you have your own boat. We chose Pacific Anglers since they were located just 5 minute walk from our apartment.

The docks

They are located in Coal Harbor, just off of Stanley Park. Canada is known for its salmon and the bay in downtown Vancouver is where they fish them. September is nearly the end of the fishing season, but we were able to catch a big one.

The Lions Gate Bridge

 
We caught one at about 8am and spotted a couple of seals and dolphins, but fish simply stopped biting afterwards. There were about 20-30 boats out and none of them seemed to catch anything, either. Nonetheless it was a beautiful day and perfect weather to enjoy the sights.

Boyfriend fishing

Caught one!

A 10lb male chinook salmon. The very best!

It was really slippery.

And really oily. His hands smelled for hours after washing them.

I caught a tiny one also. 

It escaped before we could take a photo!

The guide also cleaned and filleted our fish to pack it for consumption. A quick cut here and there and it was ready. Not only did it draw some audience above the dock, but below as well.

Gutted and cleaned

We got a company of about 4-5 wild seals! They know all the fishing boats and follow until it's time to clean whatever fish the boats catch. They usually eat the leftovers like guts and fish heads, but sometimes they will jump up and steal the fish right out of your hands or even from fishing rods!

Waiting for meals

Feeding the fish heads and leftover flesh

Awww. How can you say no?

Yum 

Soy maple syrup glazed salmon with leeks and asparagus with butter

Vancouver is a huge metropolitan city with a big cultural mix, with about 17% Chinese population and about 50% of the entire population are considered minorities. For such a bustling, modern city it has plenty of beaches and parks with some of the best mountains for skiing and hiking just around the corner that contributes to an unusually clean air for such a large city.

Coal Harbour

After greeting sunrise with fishing, I went to the English Bay to see the sunset. The beach has an unusual feature - large logs to sit on. I'm guessing it is due to nearby logging companies. Canada contains 10% of the world's forested land and logging is a major part of Canada's economy.

English Bay

A public art called A-Maze-ing Laughter by Yue Minjun is installed by the beach. The statues are creepy at best at first glance, but you will soon find out that their laughter is actually contagious when posing with them.

14 statues in total

We spent a couple hours exploring the bay and enjoying the sunset. We stayed past nightfall and found that the view can be amazing.

Sunset

<3 the clouds!

We ended the night at Stanley Park where you can see the entire downtown Vancouver as a reflection. There's not much light in the park so we had to be careful of cars and bicycles, but otherwise it was calm and the view is the best of Vancouver has to offer.