Another first! Our first flight on a seaplane was a fun experience. We had the seats immediately behind the pilot. The take off and landing were exceptionally smooth and brisk on the water - much gentler than on land. Interestingly it looked like there was an 'air traffic control' at the entrance to Victoria Harbour that was managing the traffic, giving our plane priority to take off over a whale watching boat that was also leaving the harbour. And the first time we've ever seen an air windsock in a harbour!

We had a good view of Gonzales Bay, where we had been living for the last two weeks, and some of the smaller islands between Vancouver Island and Vancouver. Sadly though maybe not as clear as it could have been due to the lowish cloud cover but still a good sight. Coming in to land ('sea?') at Vancouver we flew over Stanley Park and over the Lions Gate Bridge, banking over the city skyline to land right on the water's edge of Downtown Vancouver. Harbour Air - our seaplane company - provided an excellent service: complimentary tea/coffee, fruit, cakes, newspapers in the departure lounge and a complimentary shuttle service to our Vancouver hotel. We had thought that choosing to travel by seaplane was something of an extravagance but given the savings around taxi fares and the fact that the service was virtually a door-to-door route we think it was good value.

We checked in, got ourselves organised and went out to explore Vancouver. First stop was Granville Island via a little waterbus that shuttles back and forth. This has an interesting Public Market (we think to differentiate it from a 'Wholesale' Market) - much like Borough Market. The island had been a industrial, harbour area in decline but has been reinvented as a retail, leisure venue with many food outlets and craft stores. We strolled around the perimeter board walk and wove our way around some of the 'streets' before heading back to the hotel.

Dinner was at a well-reviewed, waterfront restaurant - our second extravagance of the day. We enjoyed the food but think it wasn't good value nor particularly interesting cooking. We both had a halibut with heirloom tomatoes main: the fish was well cooked and the tomatoes tasty but there wasn't anything to justify the price and the dish definitely wasn't a test of chef skills.