AquaPalooza 2006: Oh, What A Night!

Last night was one of the interesting and spectacular I've had in quite some time. Around 5:45pm a friend & I grabbed a taxi and headed down to Cardero's, a popular restaurant-bar in Coal Harbour. We met up with another friend of mine, who had arranged for us to watch the fireworks from a Sea Ray yacht just like this. It was a pretty amazing experience!

We pulled away from the dock around 6:30pm, and headed toward the Lions Gate Bridge. I took all kinds of photos along the way, including some superb ones of the late sun glimmering down on the downtown Vancouver skyline. After passing under the bridge, we headed to a small dock in Ambleside, a beach in West Vancouver, where we picked up 4 more people.

Then we headed into the heart of English Bay to await the huge fireworks display, this time put on by China. Soon after we arrived, another Sea Ray yacht tied up beside us. And then another one. And then another one. Within an hour or so, there were 8 of us tied up together (back on land after midnight, we heard some people remark what a spectacular sight it was to see all these magnificent yachts in a row!)

At 10pm the fireworks commenced! They were absolutely beautiful from the vantage point we were at. There's just something surreal about floating on the water and having a spectacular light show encompass the entire sky in front of one's eyes.

Our hosts had brought some great sushi along, that they brought out after the show. That really hit the spot. I also munched on snacks provided by the boat owners beside us, a wonderful couple originally from Mexico City - a place I had lived for a year. They were such nice people!

As the evening wore on, one young lady unfortunately fell into the water. She was in no danger, but it was quite a sight to see. Three fellows quickly pulled her back in. She was soaking wet so she took off her outer poncho and I loaned her my fleece. Quite stupidly on my part, I didn't remove the items in my pockets first. Inadvertenly my camera got "misplaced". I'm hoping it is on one of the many boats but at this time do not know for sure. Besides the loss of the camera itself, there were some really great pictures on it!

The boat we were on was heading to Bowen Island, so we needed another way to get back to the city. The friend of one of the yacht captains pulled up on a HUGE tugboat called the "Imp". Four of us jumped onboard and were taken back to the city, though not to our original departure point but to Granville Island. This worked out better for us because most of us live near there. It was quite an interesting/amazing way to end what was surely one of the most memorable evenings in recent memory!