Hi Ray. I am lucky enough to call Vancouver home, so I'll give this a shot. As for "attractions", are you thinking strictly tourist type stuff, or marine industry in general? Phil has his shop here (north shore), and there is also International Submarine Engineering out in Port Coquitlam (a former employer of mine) - they might have something interesting on the shop floor to show you. Imagenex is also out that way. What days specifically will you be here? If it happens to be on the last Wednesday in October, the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC has its meetings down at the maritime museum that evening - the scheduled speaker might be relevant or might not, but in any case there are members with a great deal of experience in shipwreck search, mapping, identification and so forth. Definitely worth a chat over a pint. Certainly I would take a cruise by the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park if you have time. Also, I am ex Canadian Coast Guard - I might be able to arrange a tour or perhaps even a ridealong at the hovercraft base if that interests you. The Port of Vancouver is always very active - walk down to Canada Place and look out over the inner harbour. My company was acquired a little while ago by British Marine Technologies (BMT) - I will be moving offices in October down to a location near the container terminal, sharing space with BMT Fleet. They do ship design, and have an office full of models and experienced naval architects who can probably answer questions. Maybe I could arrange a meeting? As for the conference, depending on how much running around is feasible, there is a naval base in Esquimalt (near Victoria, BC), and we might be able to arrange a base / ship tour? Also in Victoria is the Coast Guard headquarters, Victoria Rescue Coordination center, the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility (another former employer) - operators of the ROPOS ROV, and the institute for ocean science in Patricia Bay.
-Sean
On Sep 19, 2008, psubs2001@yahoo.com wrote: