Second Beach Pool at Stanley Park - Vancouver

notes from Coleman

Activity:

Splash. Swish. Whee! Plunk. Let's do it again Mom! Yeah!

This is me riding down the slippery turtle's back, and landing on my bum into the warm, blue water.  Wanna go there too?  All you do is go to Second Beach Pool in Stanley Park.

It really is the bestest.  I can sit in the water and splash my feet, or even lie on my tummy and practise swimming.  Second Beach Pool has slides for big kids too; one even looks like a seal balancing a striped ball on its nose.

Let's see.  What else?  Second Beach has a way-neat playground with swings and slides.  If you want, you can go to the beach too and look for crabs.  If you can't find any crabs, ask my sister Jen to help you she's the crab-catching queen.  Last time she tried to sneak one home for a pet.  She named the crab "Hermie".  Mom made Jen put Hermie back, because crabs don't like living in a house.

Don't worry if you get hungry, because there's a concession at Second Beach.  You can buy fries, hamburgers and even fish (yuck!).  My fries were good, but they forgot to take the tomato out of Nathan's hamburger, so he had to do it himself.  Anyway, you get the picture.  If you're a kid like me, you can't go to Second Beach Pool and not have fun.

Age group:

I didn't notice too many big people without kids at Second Beach.  I guess it's a bit small for them because the water never goes any deeper than 5 feet.  Plus the lanes you're allowed to swim in are only 50 metres long.

Expense rating:

Mom's and Dad's have to pay the most to get in $4.50.  Jan and Nathan were only $2.25, and I was free because I'm not six years old yet.  If you have lots of big kids you can save money by getting the family rate.

:

Second Beach Pool is perfect for families like ours that have little kids and big kids.  The little kids can sit and splash if they want to, while the big ones go down the slide and dive for quarters in the deeper water.  Mom like it's round shape because she said she could see everything no matter where she was standing.  I guess she didn't have to worry about me getting lost.

:

What I didn't like about Second Beach Pool is that it's windy.  Dad says it's always windier by the ocean, so I guess you can't do anything about it.  Nathe wished the pool was a little deeper, so he could do his big belly flop and splash Jen.  Mom couldn't understand why they didn't have bathrooms inside the gate.  I don't know what the big deal was.  Just because you have to get a stamp and use the big bathroom by the concession stand.  Maybe that was the problem-I really wanted one of those big Sponge Bob Popsicles but Mom kept saying "No."  Even when I cried a lot, Mom still said "No."

Details:

Second Beach Pool is pretty easy to find.  Even Mom can find her way there without getting lost.  All you do is go to Stanley Park and follow the big circle around the park, you can't miss it.  It's right across the road from Lost Lagoon.  If you're not sure, call 604-257-8371 and they'll give better directions.

Area:

Vancouver

Season:

The pool is only open during the summer.  Who would go swimming in the winter anyway?

Educational highlights:

Daddy said the "old" pool was a lot colder when he was a kid.  He said it got filled with ocean water when the tide came in.  And then when the tide went out they had to put a cork in the pool to stop the water from running out.  I'm glad they don't have to do that anymore.  I don't like swimming in cold, salty water because sometimes I swallow it.

Fun for the adult?:

I always know when Mom and Dad have fun, because they ask us on the way home if us kids had fun.  This time Mom asked us on the way back to the car, so they must have had lots of fun.