Two Weeks in Three Styles

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The Vancouver Aquarium   www.vanaqua.org

When we arrived at Arbutus House Sunday morning, other guests were departing.  Owner Gus Mitchell placed our luggage in the living room and we immediately left with our waiting cab driver to go to the Vancouver Aquarium at Stanley Park.  The aquarium, started in 1956, has continued its focus on the entertainment and "subtle" education of children.

We arrived at 10am for our behind the scenes tour of the facility. Guide, Sue Murray began our tour by introducing us to a number of artifacts is a small room. We touched whale baleen, the hairlike fibers that whales use to strain plankton for food.

Seal skin, otter skin, a skull, and killer whale dorsal fin were also part of our introduction.

We then left to meet Ralph, the thirty pound octopus. He lives in a tank visible to the public and serviced by attendants working at a level higher than the floor level that is walked by the public.

Aquarist, John Fisher had us wash our hands, take off our watches to prevent injury to the octopus and took us to Ralph's tank. The tank is "public" which means that patrons were below us looking into the tank. From below, the reflection of light off the underside of the water’s surface prevents regular visitors from seeing behind the scenes visitors at the top of the tank- we were therefore unseen.

John coaxed Ralph off the glass side of the aquarium by introducing cut fish to him and by pulling gently on one of his tentacles.

Once the octopus realized there were visitors and food available, he eased on over by suction, grabbing onto John's arm.

The feel of the octopus is not slimy. Wet and viscous but not slimy-slick. (Humans have copied the suction cups when making the rubber disks that adhere to glass and other slick surfaces.)

Ralph's means of suction is by extending and then retracting muscles around the cups thereby creating a vacuum. When pulling him off your arm, little popping noises are made as the suction contact is released. (The sound is similar to that made when small air-cell packing blisters are popped by children.)

We met three other octopuses of varying sizes while there but Ralph was the largest- weighing thirty pounds. As we left the octopus area, we washed our hands, put back on our watches and continued the behind the scenes tour with Sue.

There is a maze of halls and tanks which are not visible by the public but essential to the feeding and care of all the marine life kept at the aquarium.

For example, the water in the tropical part of the aquarium must be kept warm, the water in the British Columbia part cold.

Separate water filtration systems must be in place for the creatures as well as separate food processing areas. Food for the marine mammals must be kept pristine to avoid their sickness. To prevent contamination in the stainless steel food prep area, attendants walk through a foot wash solution in order to enter the room.

Our guide, though informative, deliberately took us in and out of the areas in a way to create some disorientation. She does this with all behind the scenes visitors for security reasons. The animals are valuable and could be endangered by people who might want to vandalize the aquarium facility.

Though there was a killer whale (now living elsewhere in the US) being fed at the outdoor pool and stage, the beluga (white) whales caught my attention. There is an underwater viewing area where you can go to see beluga cavort around their environment. At the same viewing level, but in separate tanks, are sea otters and sea lions.

When we had finished our tour in the public areas, we began our walk through Stanley Park to catch our dinner train.

For the hike through the park and over the bridge to the North Vancouver train station we had used our medium sized hiking pack to carry our evening wear and dress shoes. We wore short sleeved shirts and shorts as well as hiking boots for our excursion during the day.

We hiked from the aquarium down to the shore sidewalk. Along the way we passed water oriented play areas for children and were passed by scores of people riding bicycles and skating on inline skates. The walk took us through areas appearing undeveloped except for the trail we were on.

Not only were there many tourists in Stanley Park, but it appeared to be a primary weekend spot for local people too.

It was our plan to walk across Stanley Park to the main bridge connecting the park with North Vancouver. When we made it to the beginning of the bridge, we found the sidewalk closed to pedestrians and blocked with a chain link fence. First we tried to hail passing cabs and city buses- to no avail. Seeing two young boys round the chain link fence on bikes and disappear down the length of bridge, we decided that we would risk being cited for trespass and follow the bikers to the other side.

With automobile traffic whizzing by at fifty miles an hour, we went around the chain link fence blocking the sidewalk and began a hike over the bridge. Three quarters across, we were blocked by welding equipment, cable hoists, and a jumble of other equipment. It was obvious that the bicycling kids had braved the auto traffic in order to go around the blockage. We were not that bold.

So we retraced our steps all the way back to the start. A city bus driver coming in our direction saw us as we rounded the chain link fence, and being hailed by me, stopped to pick us up. Though it was against city policy to pick up pedestrians except at bus stops, he knew from our dress that we were not from Vancouver. We were charged regular fare, given bus transfer passes and directions on how to find our dinner train terminal. Now that’s hospitality!

After riding to the connecting bus to the stop closest to the passenger train terminal, we walked some six blocks to check in for the diner train. We had planned to use the terminal rest rooms to change but found them under repair and too unkempt to use for changing.

Within a block of the terminal is a bar and restaurant called Pemberton Station Pub which served cold beer and which had clean rest rooms.

Diann and I took turns guarding the camera and cold beer while the other took the pack into the restroom.

Cleaning up and changing clothes for dinner was an easy process. We hung the pack on the commode stall clothes hook, wet a handful of paper towels and after wiping down and drying off, we changed into casual evening clothes and dress shoes.

While Diann was in the women’s room, I could observe the local folk. We were on the patio which has a gas fired overhead heating system for use during colder months. Though not in use when we were there, I could tell that two units use 3 ½ inch horizontal pipes to transfer heat to patrons and exhaust the fumes. It was quite unique in design- one of those differences that make travel educational.

NASCAR racing was on all the television monitors throughout the pub. There was even a plywood box on wheels containing the TV for the patio.

Though our dress clothes were somewhat wrinkled, the improvement for dinner was significant enough to not matter. And it felt good to have wiped the park and street dust off.

We walked across the street to the train terminal with minutes to spare. Serendipitously benefited by our seating assignment, we sat on the side of the train which would overlook the coast- both to our destination and back. The train does not turn around at the end, it reverses direction.

We were joined for dinner by Al and Myrna Normey, who live in Vancouver and who were celebrating a special occasion.

The station is set among a number of industrial tracts and so as we started our journey, we could see a variety of commercial sights including piles of sand and cargo containers.

Soon the commercial sights gave way to residences and then to trees on the right and the bay on our window side. Our cocktail selection began with a blue concoction with a number of white liquors. Not having to drive home, I had more than one.

Diann selected a beef dish, I the salmon. As usual, she couldn’t finish her entire meal- which let me sample both dishes.

The meal was over by the time we reached the upper part of the journey. The swing music band, Night Train, played as guests got off the train. Some folks stayed at the pavilion to listen to the music. The youngest and oldest of those danced- particularly grandparents with grandchildren.

Others of us walked out to a pier to look at the cove along side the train. SCUBA divers were enjoying the summer swimming season as music softly crossed the auto parking lot separating the train tracks from the pier area.

The sun was beginning to fade as the train horn blasted to let everyone know the trip was coming to a conclusion and that it was time to board for its return.

Thanks to the Normey’s, we did not have to endure a cab ride back to Arbutus House. They were gracious enough to drive us back.

                                                       Connect to the cruise

                                                        Link to Aquarium Site- very informative.