Wherever waves crash to shore, coastal meetings bring in a tide of attendees. From Vancouver to San Diego, the ocean has a gravitational pull for them whether it’s to look at boats in the harbor, dine by the beach, view the fish in tanks, or sleep at inns by the water.
Today’s aquariums and maritime museums are doing more outreach than ever to groups. Birch Aquarium has experts from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to lecture on issues like climate change, and Vancouver Aquarium began an initiative, Ocean Wise, to get sustainable seafood not only at its parties but also in local restaurants.
The Maritime Heritage Network has made surfing the Internet more convenient for the attractions in the Pacific Northwest. The user makes a map of exactly what they want to visit, and they book directly with those organizations.
“Most lighthouses on the mainland offer some kind of access to their grounds, which varies from facility to facility,” says Joe Follansbee, project manager with the Maritime Heritage Network. “A few vessels offer charters like the steamer Virginia V, schooners, Adventuress and Zodiac, brig Lady Washington, and the ship Hawaiian Chieftain.”
Ahoy, Vancouver
Capt. George Vancouver in 1792 sailed for just a day into the harbor, but it was long enough to make a name for both himself and the city. If the Vancouver Maritime Museum and the Vancouver Aquarium had been open, he would have likely explored more than the Spanish Banks.
Vancouver can easily be navigated from The Fairmont Waterfront, where a glassed-in walkway leads to the deck of the Vancouver Convention Center for meetings and also the Cruise Ship Terminal for boarding for a pre or post voyage along the Inside Passage.
The Fairmont is where to get out the telescope, as 300 of the 489 rooms face the ocean along with its sustainable-seafood Herons Restaurant. For a breeze, the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Hotel has windows to let in the salty air in many of its 434 rooms overlooking the Pacific.
Stanley Park has a 5.5-mile seawall stroll nearby, which goes past the Lost Lagoon to beaches from Murrell Inlet to English Bay. In a custom coach, attendees can ride to the Vancouver Aquarium through its 1,000 acres past memorials for shipwrecks like the SS Beaver Cairn and Chehalis.
They will go nose to bottleneck with dolphins in the Vancouver Aquarium, along with the whales. During a Trainer Tour, they will learn about the care and feeding of sea lions to otters, along with preparing morsels for them in the kitchens. Also, for an extra ticket, the Beluga Encounter gets them up close for 90 minutes into the habitat.
Marine animals can be partied with in the Arctic Canada or Aquaquest Galleries (for cocktails, both with 200 capacity) or throughout the halls (at 1,000 standing or 400 seated). So no fish at its banquets comes from endangered waters, Vancouver Aquarium began an Ocean Wise initiative, now in about 30 local restaurants.
The historic Fish House at Stanley Park is one of those alternatives for lunch (for 40 to 350 persons) for wild local salmon to lobster. Other Ocean Wise options are Yaletown’s Blue Water Cafe, with its raw bar, and signature tower of seafood, along with C Restaurant for abalone and Nu Restaurant, the latter two with vast views across from Granville Island.
The seafaring George Vancouver is remembered in Vanier Park with a monument to his brief expedition. The nearby Vancouver Maritime Museum has been preserving the nautical artifacts of Vancouver for nearly 50 years. In the distant future, it will be involved in the National Maritime Center for the Pacific and Arctic when it moves to a site in North Vancouver.
The Vancouver Maritime Museum is known for its 1928 supply ship, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Schooner St. Roch, which was first to go through the Northwest Passage to the Arctic. From clippers to charts, the exhibits can be seen by attendees during events ranging from lectures to formal dinners, along with vessels in its Heritage Harbour.
Seafaring Seattle
Seattle has been a boater’s paradise for years, which is why it has a North West Seaport Maritime Heritage Center, a Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum, a Coast Guard Museum, and a Center for Wooden Boats.
As a pioneer on the Oregon Trail, Arthur Denny and his men had the wind in their sails from Portland, Ore., when they landed the Exact in 1851 at rainy Point Alki. After calling their village New York for a while, they decided it should officially become Seattle in honor of Chief Sealth of the Duwamish and Suquamish Indians.
From Elliott Bay to Puget Sound, many attendees enjoy viewing Seattle from the sea.
“We would estimate that 30 to 50 percent of our larger conventions will include at least one or some type of water-based activity,” says Tom Norwalk, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Seattle CVB. “This unscientific answer includes the Washington State Ferry ridership to the Victoria Clipper transportation to the San Juan Islands and Victoria British Columbia, along with a high percentage of those that take an Alaska cruise.”
The Center for Wooden Boats is for paddling and rowing, but also taking sailing lessons. Under the mast, they recommend group classes for beginners and one-on-one instruction for the more advanced. With about 100 vessels, they have water taxis and canoes for taking out for the day from their livery. There are also workshops on knot-tying and other seafaring skills.
For more power, the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum has vintage vessels from the last 70 years. Some of their drivers had names like “Wild Bill Cantrell,” so attendees can imagine themselves at the finish line of a Gold Cup. They can also see restorations from a 1946 Tempo VI to a 1956 Hawaii Kai III.
Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center offers everything from sea chantey sings to storytelling on the tugboat Arthur Foss. Those groups of 30 or less who want to become an “engineer for a day” can fire up the boilers on the Arthur Washington Iron Works or the Duwamish Bessemer’s electric diesel generator.
Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center has Sharing the Sound exhibits about the diverse marine culture, along with those on Ocean Trade around the Pacific Rim. Whether it’s Coast Guard cutters or lightships, there’s a nautical feel everywhere at the venue, which partners with Bell Harbor International Conference Center.
Make a salmon run afterward for the Waterfront Seafood Grill, where as many as 300 attendees can have the Alaska to Yukon River king salmon while looking through their floor-to-ceiling glass on the Pacific. The Fish Club Seattle has mussels to trout menuiere for small groups in its Club Room, inside the Seattle Marriott Waterfront, with 345 accommodations. Where the Beatles once cast a line, the Edgewater Hotel has 223 rooms on Alaskan Way along a pier along with its Six Seven bistro.
At the Seattle Aquarium, walk underwater as bluntnose sharks circle above. A giant Pacific octopus reaches its arms to passersby, as tropical tanks become the decor for major events for up to 800 people. Through the Seattle Art Institute Culinary Arts and other organizations, the Seattle Aquarium is using sustainable seafood.
Oregon Ports of Call
At the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is where fresh waters meet in a city named in 1845 for Portland, Maine, instead of Boston after a silver dollar toss. Until the railroads came through in the 1890s, it was the principal port in the Northwest; its history is documented at the Oregon Maritime Center and Museum.
Launch a day in Portland from the banks of the Willamette, with its three-mile path crossing over the only steel bridge of its type anywhere. The Eastbank Esplanade has the world’s longest floating walkway, and the Hawthorne Bridge is the oldest lift span in the U.S. Once inside the Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the Battleship Oregon Memorial gives homage to the 1893 “Bulldog of the Navy.”
The Oregon Maritime Center and Museum has three anchored artifacts at the seawall, the Sternwheeler Portland, the barge Russell and the gill net Moms Boat. Whether they are interested in flatboats or just ships in a bottle, groups of up to 100 can take tours. Around since 1907, Dan & Louis’ Oyster Bar Restaurant nearby has a collection of maritime memorabilia for attendees also wanting to have lunch on the half shell.
At sunset, the Portland Spirit has a yacht dinner cruise for up to 350 on the Willamette River. If that’s not fast enough, there’s also a jetboat for 15 or more people that speeds toward the locks of the Bonneville Dam and Port of Cascade.
Astoria was the journey’s end for Lewis and Clark, who spent the winter of 1805-1806 at Fort Clatsop, but it’s just a two-plus hour ride from Portland. For a business retreat, the former salmon canning factory, Cannery Pier Hotel, has lodging in 46 suites on the Columbia River. In the Red Building nearby, conferences can be held upstairs in The Loft, which seats 400 theater-style. The Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites also has an intimate 2,000 square feet for gatherings on the water, along with a patio for functions.
The movie Free Willy was shot in Astoria, so guides can take attendees to those film locations, besides that of Goonies. The Riverfront Trolley can also be chartered by the hour along the downtown near the bridges. For lunch, Baked Alaska restaurant has a panorama of the Columbia River, besides its signature dessert for as many as 120 people seated in two rooms.
On the Columbia River, the boat pilots were life-savers as they rescued many a wayward soul from the bars along the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” At the Columbia River Maritime Museum, their heroism is never forgotten, along with the servicemen on U.S. Navy Destroyers. Besides a party for 160 inside, it has outdoor spaces near the dock of the Lightship Columbia.
Santa Barbara Shores
If ever there was an American Rivera, Santa Barbara, Calif., has laid claim to it. This is not only where to get a tan on its sun-drenched shores, but to also go to the Ty Warner Sea Center and the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
The patron Saint Barbara has blessed this village since 1592, when explorer Sebastian Vizcaino took refuge on a Feast Day near the Channel Islands during a severe storm. Local outfitters also feel her gratitude, as they offer sea kayaking with astronomy (four-person minimum through the Adventure Company of Santa Barbara) near El Capitan and catamarans in Painted Cave (for groups up to 149 with Condor Express).
Where Earth Day began almost 40 years ago, Santa Barbara maintains its eco-system around the Channel Islands. When Amtrak’s Pacific Coast Starlight takes attendees north from Los Angeles or south from San Francisco, they get mass transit with ocean views. Santa Barbara does its part to reduce carbon gases with electric shuttles and hybrid taxis.
Both across from the deep blue sea, Four Seasons The Biltmore Santa Barbara is where to “go green” with its 207 rooms and 12 cottages, along with Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, with 360 rooms and 45,000 square feet for meetings. Over lobster bisque to salmon with risotto, the water fowl can be observed at a bird refuge around Stella Mare’s restaurant, which accommodates up to 400 people.
Ty Warner Sea Center is for the oceanographer in everyone. At Sterns Wharf, attendees can touch the urchins, sing with dolphins and look at plankton under a microscope. Alongside a model of a California grey whale as a backdrop, a reception can be held for 75 to 450 with the Santa Inez Mountains in the distance. With seared Ahi tuna to Australian lobster tail, Chuck’s Waterfront Grill has a more formal dining room for 200 nearby.
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum offers sport fishing, shipwrecks, scuba diving, and shore whaling displays. The oil rigs are almost gone around Carpentaria now, but their impact on the Central Coast is explained on group docent-led tours of the Santa Barbara Harbor. On two levels, have a boat-themed party accommodating up to 400.
Seaside San Diego
San Diego has discoveries for 34 miles along its waterfront, not the least of which is Cabrillo National Monument, built to honor Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo who came to California in 1542. Other stellar bayside attractions include the U.S.S. Midway Museum, Birch Aquarium and San Diego Maritime Museum.
The U.S. Navy has as much presence today in San Diego on Carrier Row as the Spanish armadas did in the past around Ballast Point. The fleet of aircraft carriers for the Pacific is impressive around the Naval Air Station North Island, but they are off-limits except for sightings from boat cruises offered by such companies as Hornblower Cruises.
It has combined tours to the U.S.S. Midway Museum, including the namesake launcher that was in operation for 47 years until Desert Storm. Hornblower has a vintage yacht Renown (with capacity for 60 passengers) to the Inspiration (accommodating 1,000, also with dinner), which can take passengers past the black granite obelisk, the Aircraft Carrier Memorial and around Navy Pier.
The Maritime Museum of San Diego is on the nautical route along the Embarcadero. Four of its ships welcome mates, including the 1862 antique Star of India (capacity 80) and the H.M.S. Surprise (100) from the film Master and Commander for a night of Pirate’s Plunder of grog and grub. The replica Californian or the ferry boat Berkeley can be the scene of a Changes in Latitude party with margaritas and coconut shrimp. For team building, the Californian can also be leased for a few off-shore days.
A crow’s nest look at the Pacific can be seen from the twin-towered San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina with 1,362 rooms and 446 slips for vessels (besides kayaks to jet ski rentals) next to the San Diego Convention Center. The 1,625-room Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego offers lodging near the retail Seaport Village.
The seascapes from Loew’s Coronado Bay Resort are breathtaking from the 440 rooms, along with its gondolas on canals across Big Bay. The Coronado Island Marriott Resort is also picturesque, with accommodations for 330 not far from snorkeling to water skiing activities around Coronado Beach.
Great San Diego places to dine by the water are Anthony’s Star of the Sea Event Center, which accommodates up to 175 people, the casual Anthony’s Fish Grotto, the South Seas-like Poehe’s for sushi or salmon on a glassed-in veranda, or the Marine Room Restaurant for pistachio buttered lobster tails and Maine diver scallops around the crashing waves of La Jolla.
The Birch Aquarium, which holds up to 1,200 people for a reception, is a compass point north of San Diego at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. Where global warming has been researched for years, scientists give presentations on the Scripps campus. After walking through a Hall of Fishes and to a reef, attendees can go to the depths of a Tropical Seas Gallery in the Birch Aquarium. Then, they can surface for food at its Tide Pool Plaza or Smargon Courtyard.
For More Info
Maritime Heritage Network www.maritimeheritage.net
Oregon
Baked Alaska 503.325.7414
www.bakedak.com
Cannery Pier Hotel 503.325.4996
www.cannerypierhotel.com
Columbia River Maritime Museum 503.325.2323
www.cmm.org
Dan & Louis’ Oyster Bar Restaurant 503.227.5906
www.danandlouis.com
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites503.325.6222
www.hiexpress.com
Loft at the Red Building 503.325.2223
www.theredbuildingloft.com
Oregon Maritime Center and Museum 503.224.7724
www.oregonmaritimemuseum.org
Portland Spirit 503.224.3900
www.portlandspirit.com
San Diego
Anthony’s Star of the Sea Event Center; Anthony’s Fish Grotto 619.291.7254
www.gofishanthonys.com
Birch Aquarium 858.534.3474
www.aquarium.ucsd.edu
Coronado Island Marriott Resort619.435.3000
www.marriott.com
Hornblower Cruises 619.686.8700
www.hornblower.com
Loew’s Coronado Bay Resort619.424.4000
www.loewshotels.com
Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego 619.232.1234
www.manchestergrand.hyatt.com
Marine Room Restaurant 858.964.1977
www.marineroom.com
Maritime Museum of San Diego619.234.9153
www.sdmaritime.com
Peohes 619.437.4474
www.poehes.com
San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina619.234.1500
www.marriott.com
USS Midway Museum 619.544.9600
www.midway.org
Santa Barbara
Condor Express 805.882.0088
www.condorcruises.com
Fess Parker’s DoubleTree
Resort 805.564.4333 www.fpdtr.com
Four Seasons The Biltmore 805.969.2261
www.fourseasons.com/santabarbara
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum805.962.8404
www.sbmm.org
Ty Warner Sea Center 805.962.2526
www.sbnature.org/seacenter
Seattle
Center for Wooden Boats 206.382.2628
www.cwb.org
Edgewater Hotel 206.728.7000
www.edgewaterhotel.com
Fish Club Seattle 206.256.1040
www.fishclubseattle.com
North West Seaport Maritime Center206.447.9800www.nwseaport.org
Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum206.764.9453
www.thunderboats.org
Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center206.374.4000
www.ody.org
Seattle Marriott Waterfront 206.443.5000
www.marriott.com
Waterfront Seafood Grill 206.956.9171
www.waterfrontpier70.com
Vancouver
Blue Water Cafe 604.688.8078
www.bluewatercafe.net
C Restaurant 604.681.1164
www.crestaurant.com
Fairmont Waterfront 604.691.1991
www.fairmont.com/waterfront
Fish House in Stanley Park 604.681.7275
www.fishhousestanleypark.com
Nu Restaurant www.whatisnu.com
Vancouver Aquarium 604.659.3515
www.vanaqua.org
Vancouver Maritime Museum 604.257.8300
www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com
Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle 604.684.1128
Hotel www.vancouvermarriott.com
—Patricia Bates is a freelance writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
