Our small boat puttered under the bridge as we looked at the twinkling Vancouver skyline. We waved at people running through the park as we began to pick up speed and go farther out. Beyond the tall buildings, orange construction cranes dotted the shoreline. They looked like giant toy giraffes to me, with their necks reaching up to the sun. We went past shrimp boats draped in nets until mountains rose on one side of us, tufty clouds balancing on top of their crowns like Russian fur hats. We stopped for a moment to soak the sun into our skin, and the water looked as black as oil to me until the light cut as fast as diamonds through an underbody of swirling greens. A seal poked his nose up from the depths and stared at us for a moment until satisfied we weren't very interesting. We floated on a sea of glass.

A boat rental makes for a very pleasant afternoon. If you go with friends and split the rental, it's not too expensive. The owner at Granville is full of tips and obviously enjoys his job. He frowns upon alcohol in his boats, but you can get intoxicated on the views here. This activity is worth the money.

Call early in the day (even if you want to go later in the day). If you call by 10am, you are guaranteed a boat. We called at around 4pm and got on the waiting list for 6pm when a lot of the boats were coming in. We showed up, got a quick orientation, and were off. We rode around False Creed, around Stanley Park, and out along the coast. We had a 15' outboard, 40-horsepower boat. It got a little rough, but that just made the ride even more fun. We loved the fact that seals came pretty close to the boat, plus we got some great shots of the city skyline.

One note of caution, watch out for floating wood. We were warned, so I was pretty alert . . . and sure enough, I had to avoid a large log. A couple of funny sights: another small boat with about 10 people fishing in it in the middle of the harbor (they couldn't even sit down because the boat was so crowded) and the dog beach near the entrance of False Creek (there were about 20 dogs of all sizes playing on the beach and in the surf).