Vancouver BC Marina Recommendations

In all of our travels throughout the PNW, we've never managed to find the time to visit Vancouver in the boat. Well, this year, the admiral wants to go, so we're going (I let her get her way once in a while). Probably for 3 or 4 nights in June or July if space is available.

I've done some research, and because she wants to be close to the city life action, I think the two marinas that she'll like best are Coal Harbour and Fisherman's Wharf.

Anybody have any thoughts or opinions on these two? Or, any other marina recommendations for that matter?

Also, not that money doesn't matter, but unless there's an outrageous price difference, costs will probably not be a deciding factor.

Thanks,
Neal

You want to be at Coal Harbour Marina, it's right downtown on the seawall and next to Stanley Park.

I know you asked about marinas, but you might want to consider anchoring in False Creek. Right downtown, well protected, lots of dinghy docks. Granville Island, Yaletown right there. And the price cannot be beat. Instead of moorage you could use the money for some great food in Yaletown!

http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/anchoring.aspx

Yes, for a short visit False Creek is great. Just register, IIRC you can anchor free for up to 14 days of a month. Having said that, I spent quite a bit of time at Fisherman's wharf. In part because the ship taking my boat back to Australia was delayed. Its easy to get to lots of interesting places from there (Granville Island is only a few minutes walk as well), the staff are friendly and its likely you would find it to be a both cheaper and better located overall than Coal Harbour. Fisherman's would be my first choice if I'm back in Yvr.

False Creek, anchor out. No idea how much they'll screw you but there are good markets, pubs and restaurants there.

Tap and Barrel has draught wine as well as a sh$tload of beer. At the end by the giant golf ball. Guess where I am writing this from?!

Thanks for the feedback so far!

From the responses, it seems that False Creek has interesting places, pubs and markets, which is what we're after. Any shopping to go with that?

And, what about Coal Harbour - is it similar at all?

Walking distance is important.

If I may add a twist to Nsail's question: Are there any marinas within walking distance of the new BC Place stadium? I see it's on False Creek, but don't know about nearby marinas. If I can time it, I'd love to see the Timbers play the Whitecaps this summer...

Stayed at Coal Harbor several times and highly recommend. Real close to customs dock. Friendly staff to help as spacing is a little tight. Excellent access to downtown. Be careful on approach as there is a lot of traffic including planes in the area. You'll love it. Last stop was around $90 Cnd.

We routinely stay at Coal Harbour. Good shopping all around there, much better than False Creek. It is an easy walk from Coal Harbor to Granville Island. Buses work very well too.

We used to live on Granville Island and work downtown so know the area very well. No matter where you end up you will not be bored.

False Creek Harbour Authority. That would be my suggestion. There is more to do that end of town. Robson Street, 4th Ave, and Broadway great for restaurants.

http://www.falsecreek.com


BTW, it's a fairly long walk 5 km from Coal Harbour to Granville Is.


Jim
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We only have transited at one and that's Coal Harbour. We found them to be great.

If you are a yacht club member you could get recip moorage at the Vancouver Royal YC which is right off Stanley Park or the Rowing Club which is next door. Sorry, I can't remember the Rowing Club's name but I'm sure someone will tell us.

Robson St central downtown are about equidistant from coal Hbr and Fishermans.
Denman St (highly recommended for eating out) is much closer to CH. CH Marina is high end, modern, full of higher end boats, big boats get the outside slips, up to our local billionaire's Nova Spirit at 165'. Fishermans gets the fishermen (go figure!) on older, more crowded docks, some rafting involved. You may get to cross a fishboat to get on and off your own. CH has its share of high end restaurants, starting with Cardero's, right in the marina. https://www.vancouverdine.com/carderos - good pix of the marina on that website.
CH has Stanley Park close by, with its "must see" attractions.

Moonfish said:

If I may add a twist to Nsail's question: Are there any marinas within walking distance of the new BC Place stadium? I see it's on False Creek, but don't know about nearby marinas. If I can time it, I'd love to see the Timbers play the Whitecaps this summer...

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Moon fish. Sorry for the delay as I had to do some digging for you. This Quayside marina has some transient moorage available. This is the closest place to BC Place stadium. Tenants in one of the surrounding buildings sublet their moorage during the summer. You need to get onto it early though as vacant slips fill up. Not sure of the cost. You will have to contact them. Contact "Chris" here...

https://www.ranchovan.com/template.cfm?tID=207

Otherwise it's a 29 minute walk (according to Apple Maps) from Granville Island (False Creek Harbour Authority) to BC Place



Jim
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JDCAVE said:

BTW, it's a fairly long walk 5 km from Coal Harbour to Granville Is.

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Nice walk, can do it in 3/4 hour if hustling or 6 hours if shopping along the way. Most Vancouver berthing or anchoring locales as previously mentioned are great. Short scope in False Creek is recommended.

"Vancouver Rowing Club"
Reciprocal Yacht Club Visitors

The first two days of moorage are free, additional days are $1.50 per foot per day. You must show your membership card and fly your Club burgee. There is a flat fee for electricity (20 or 30amp service) of $3 per day.
Transient Visitors

Moorage is $2.00 per foot per day plus electricity.
Visiting Members
Moorage $0.50 cents per foot per day plus electricity.


the "Royal Vancouver Yacht Club" has a limited number of slips available for reciprocal mooring. You should call ahead to see if there is one big enough for your boat, within a few days of your planned arrival. I don't recall what the rates are, but VRC reciprocal rates should be comparable.


For both, your club must first be on their list of reciprocating clubs.

I'd like to reopen this same question, but looking for a month-to-month guest slip if possible this summer in Vancouver but not an annual contract. would like to be able to stay for about 4 months starting around early June.
Coal Harbor website did not indicate they do month-to-month, so not sure if this is not common in that area...?
(Oh and no i do not have a yacht club membership)

I would go for false creek, either anchor out or fisherman's terminal. We stayed at Coal Harbor for a few months a year or so ago. It was OK, but very expensive and that was on a long term winter contract. In the summer it's just stupid expensive for a mediocre marina.

twistedtree said:

I would go for false creek, either anchor out or fisherman's terminal. We stayed at Coal Harbor for a few months a year or so ago. It was OK, but very expensive and that was on a long term winter contract. In the summer it's just stupid expensive for a mediocre marina.

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What TT says is the norm in Vancouver in the summer. Check Mosquito creek. I have heard good things about their flexibilitym but know nothing about moorage.

Anchoring is also limited in False Creek, so don't count on it. The fisherman dock may be available if you are prepared to be rafted to fishboats.

Good luck.

In addition to the other recommendations above you might also try Craigslist. I see private slips sublet from time to time. Space is pretty tight in the summer peak so bargains are few and far between.

False Creek anchoring is good fun though restricted to a number of days / mo (not onerous - put in place to deal with long term liveaboards). Ref Anchoring | City of Vancouver

As per koliver Mosquito Creek has some space. It is not downtown but close to lower lonsdale - a funky little spot now - and is also close to the Seabus for getting to downtown.

Thanks for the inputs, yeah there's no way we want to pay something like the daily rate at coal harbor. In fact we don't care if we're near downtown. It can be on the outskirts somewhere, just want it to be fairly secure marina.

Are you a yacht club member? If so there are several club marinas in addition to the Vancouver Rowing Club.
Some are in the area you have asked about. Some are outside your immediate area of interest. If you are a member it might be worthwhile contacting them.

Royal Vancouver Yacht CLub, Van RVYC
Vancouver Rowing CLub, Van VRC
Burrard Yacht Club, North Van BYC
False Creek Yacht CLub, Van FCYC
West Vancouver Yacht CLub, West Van WVYC

FCYC, RVYC, VRC are in the immediate area.
The others would require using a bus or a cab.

Mosquito Ck is OK, but their parking can be a hassle. They have a guy manning their boom gate, which is kinda odd these days (make work?), but not a problem. However, even with a valid parking sticker displayed you can find yourself issued a parking infringement notice. Then waste time and effort to sort it out. Its just that kind of place!

Fishermans Wharf doesn't have that many commercial boats in summer, or at least it didn't when I was there. I think they go off and work.... Fabulous location. Harbour ferries from Granville can save a lot of walk time too.

Friends rented a berth privately at Granville Island for an extended period. Remember that people like to cruise during the summer, and many are keen to get some income for their berth while they are away.

Hamrow said:

I'd like to reopen this same question, but looking for a month-to-month guest slip if possible this summer in Vancouver but not an annual contract. would like to be able to stay for about 4 months starting around early June.
Coal Harbor website did not indicate they do month-to-month, so not sure if this is not common in that area...?
(Oh and no i do not have a yacht club membership)

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Is it essential that you stay in Vancouver proper? How about south of town or Vancouver Island? It is a pretty quick trip driving up from Seattle, maybe you could drive up and check things out.

Hamrow said:

Thanks for the inputs, yeah there's no way we want to pay something like the daily rate at coal harbor. In fact we don't care if we're near downtown. It can be on the outskirts somewhere, just want it to be fairly secure marina.

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Bellingham is on the outskirts, an hour to the south of Vancouver. Slips are available in the summer at a lot less money than Vancouver, including ours while we're in Alaska.

Another option: Milltown Marina, just up the north arm of the Fraser River and close to the south end Granville Street. Also easy access to YVR.
http://milltownmarina.ca/about/
Jim

Can't do Bellingham because this summer our 1-yr wash state cruise permit is expiring. The plan is to move to CA for a few months before this fall when we hope to move the boat to the east coast.
We'd e flying in to Vancouver airport, so any marina within a decent uber ride from the airport. I'd rather not do Sidney or Victoria because accounting for ferries, we'd have to spend all day traveling.

If you are flying in you might consider Sidney, airpoort is YYJ, the Victoria airport. A very short ride to the marinas, good shopping and groceries, good cruising close by. It lets you bypass the hustle at Vancouver if you want.

Hamrow said:

Can't do Bellingham because this summer our 1-yr wash state cruise permit is expiring. The plan is to move to CA for a few months before this fall when we hope to move the boat to the east coast.
We'd e flying in to Vancouver airport, so any marina within a decent uber ride from the airport. I'd rather not do Sidney or Victoria because accounting for ferries, we'd have to spend all day traveling.

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Milltown is a 10 minute cab ride from YVR airport. No Uber in Vancouver. There’s a grocery store at 67th and Granville, a short trip from the marina.

av8r said:

If you are flying in you might consider Sidney, airpoort is YYJ, the Victoria airport. A very short ride to the marinas, good shopping and groceries, good cruising close by. It lets you bypass the hustle at Vancouver if you want.

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We much prefer Sidney to Vancouver for travel convenience. Fly up there regularly from AZ. Also Hamrow, have you considered ocean shipping your vessel from Victoria to East Coast US? Raven in Sidney has a subsidiary that manages shipping of many vessels this way.