CRUISING OUR WATERS
Entrepreneurs are dreaming up new ways to enjoy B.C.’s waterways.
Ship ahoy, mates. When it comes to cruise, charter and rental offerings, it seems as though everything from soup to nuts is floating in the harbour these days.
You can rent a boat for a barbecue on the water, head out on a Viking ship with billowing red and white sails to immerse yourself in historical times, go whale watching, salmon fishing, or just go sightseeing while knocking back a few.
Each outfit seems to have a story. Here’s one:
When Terry Campbell and his wife lived on the Ottawa River in Ontario, their grandson loved to look out on the water and pretend to be a pirate.
“He wanted to attack all the boats that went by,” said Campbell, owner of Pirate Adventures Canada, one of a multi-coloured fleet of private boat operators in Vancouver’s harbour.
So he and his wife, sharing their lifelong love of boating, built him a pirate ship so he could invite his friends on board.
The nautical adventure was so popular, the boys soon required a bigger ship, so they built one. “It looked like there was a way to share with everybody, so we turned it into a commercial boat.”
With that, a new business venture was afloat. After starting in Victoria four years ago, the company moved a 50-foot pirate ship to Granville Island, offering interactive theatre on the water complete with guests dressed up as pirates, actors from the UBC theatre department to animate, and all sorts of hijinks on the high seas, including the requisite attacks from other boats.
The move to Vancouver appears to have been a smashing success, with the company more than doubling its business this year over last with bookings extending well into September.
In general, the boat business is brisk these days. Seats fill up quickly.
The water becomes particularly busy around fireworks season when everyone from modest- income families to high-flying corporations want an unobstructed view of Vancouver’s most spectacular light show.
“Seeing the fireworks from the water is absolutely incredible because you are seeing the silhouettes of all the boats and then you’ve got the skinny (sky) scrapers as the backdrop, and the reflection of the fireworks off the water,” said Kevin Skewes, president of Spirit Cruises Ltd., which offers public charters on fireworks nights aboard two yachts in the Vancouver area.
“If you are on the land looking out, you don’t really see the silhouettes of the boats because you are looking at the darkness and then you look up and see the fireworks. It’s like having a front-row seat to the best light show ever.”
Fireworks night also has its challenges. With so many inexperienced boaters on the water, it’s important to have a captain at the wheel who knows what he’s doing, said Skewes. The full buffet, the dancing and the music all have to be timed perfectly for the light show and the trip back to shore.
He estimates 60 per cent of his company’s business lands between May and the end of September, with 30 per cent around Christmas with carol ship adventures, corporate parties and other holiday festivities.
One of the most striking sights in the harbour is Vancouver’s only authentic paddlewheeler, the MPV Constitution, its wheel churning up a whimsical plume of spray. It is owned by the harbour’s oldest and one of its largest commercial residents, Harbour Cruises Ltd.
This one, too, has a story. The outfit began in 1911 by operating ferry boats on the Fraser River. Between 1932 and 1968, it delivered mail to Indian Arm, making it the only floating post office in the British Empire.
Seeking to capitalize on the downtown boom and the new popularity of the West End, it moved to Coal Harbour in the 1930s where it began operating a small fleet of tour and charter vessels.
Today, it operates the paddlewheeler plus two yachts, ferrying people around the region’s waterways.
As any boat tour operator will tell you, this is a challenging, expensive business, requiring strict compliance with Transport Canada regulations, extensive boat maintenance, high moorage fees, a talent for boating and hospitality, as well as a nose for the changing whims of clientele.
Josephine Clarke, manager of tour operations for Harbour Cruises, has noticed food choices have become more complicated. More customers are opting for vegetarian or gluten free choices, which can pose challenges as there are no kitchens on the vessels. Prepared food is brought on board by a caterer.
Also, customers used to book through tour operators who brought a big block of people on board. But in the age of the Internet, everyone is their own travel expert. People book for themselves, often at the last minute. That makes it more difficult to gauge numbers and prepare.
Watching the Vancouver fireworks from aboat is )like having a frontrow seat to the best lights however.
KEVIN SKEWES
PRESIDENT, SPIRIT CRUISES LTD.
Still, the big events in town bring customers on board just as surely as waves wash up on shore. This year, there was the FIFA Women’s World Cup, followed by the fireworks, Pride Week, and the list goes on. In between, there are weddings, anniversary celebrations, and other staples of the hospitality industry.
During the fireworks, Harbour Cruises tries to come up with a number of price points, offering a full three-course dinner with reserved seating at the top end for $120, a middle option for $75, and a bare-bones $50 cruise with just a concession aimed at families.
Looking for something completely different? You might have noticed circular boats looking like giant bright orange doughnuts and fibreglass dinghies plying the waters with a barbecue in the centre.
They are part of a fleet operated by a relative newcomer to the scene. Joe’s BBQ boat rentals is owned and operated by Jonathan De Keyser, a man who had no boating experience and no particular interest in water sports until his mother organized a family outing on such a boat in the Netherlands.
“I had a little bell ringing and I thought I’d give it a bit of a try here,” said De Keyser.
Since launching the venture last summer, it has taken off with all the pizzazz of a jet boat. The boats are usually booked up well in advance of weekends.
He has also had a few mishaps in which neophyte sailors ran onto rocks by venturing too close to shore.
When you are starting a new venture, “those kind of hiccups happen,” he said.
“That’s the kind of thing that hopefully won’t happen too often.”
Because he rents to inexperienced sailors, he said he goes through a half-hour checklist with them to avoid mishaps.
The boats, which he imports from China, can handle up to 10 people, but for safety reasons, he allows a maximum of eight. The price varies depending on the numbers on board, starting at $30 an hour per person for two people and dropping to $17 when there are eight. There are also Monday-to-Thursday specials.
“People love the idea of being on the water and barbecuing at the same time,” he said.
A big part of the product offerings for anyone plying the waters is Vancouver’s spectacular scenery. And that costs nothing.
Then, too, there is something magical about being on the water.
“When you see Vancouver from the water, you are seeing it at 360 degrees,” said Clarke of Harbour Cruises. “It’s a different experience.”
“If you are sitting on the shore, the scenery is always the same,” said Skewes of Spirit Cruises. “If you are on a boat, the scenery is continuously changing. You can go out and enjoy the breeze.”
Then there are the quirky operators like Pirate Adventures that bring a whole different dimension to being on the water.
Although it caters mostly to families, the company does the odd bachelorette party or corporate team-building venture.
The pirate ship is replete with stories. There was the time it was hired to come around the corner and interrupt a wedding being held on shore. Then the couple spent their first anniversary on the boat just to remember.
Campbell finds meaning in watching parents and grandparents dress up and act like children again.
“Those are the memorable moments when a parent thanks us for allowing them to be a child with their child.”
He added, “Once everyone is dressed up as a pirate and they are on the ship, everyone is the same. They are just out having a great time.”
Said Skewes, “There’s something about being on the water that makes people smile and be happy.”