Painted Boat Resort {Part 1}

Thank you to everyone who voted for Discovering Parenthood back in June. I was honoured to be named the Top Vancouver Mom Blogger of 2014 at VancouverMom.ca. I am still very surprised that my blog won, I really cannot thank you all enough. I love knowing that my blog is being read and enjoyed by so many. One of the prizes for winning was a 2 night stay at the Painted Boat Resport Spa & Marina

The Painted Boat is on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, so we got to take a ferry ride over. We went over on a long weekend, and we though that we had left with lots of time to spare to catch a ferry. I am so thankful that we got there crazy early because the lineup was out to the freeway entrance. I have never seen the ferry so busy before. We had to wait 2 sailings before we got to board, and we just made it onto that one. If we ever needed to travel on the long weekend again, we would definitely make sure to reserve a spot early on! Another part of the prize was that we got to try out a 2014 Chevrolet Impala for a week. Jason was super excited about this! While waiting to load, we kept Evie entertained for 2 hours with a Disney movie, and lots of walking. She is a major fan of people watching, and she really enjoyed getting to see so many people traveling with dogs. Thankfully she didn’t get grumpy

The ferry ride itself was very quick. Almost frustrating with how much they charge to go on, thankfully we only had to pay that for one way. We are keeping that fact in mind for future vacations. Evie loved checking out everything on the deck, and was keeping other travelers entertained when she was swinging like a monkey from one of the bars. We also made sure to point out Anvil to her. It was nice to get the ocean breeze blowing in our faces because it was a hot day. There was also a kids play area inside the boat, so she was able to get lots of energy out in there too. Had a few people stunned that she is only a year and a half with how much stuff she is able to do on her own, and her vocabulary.

With the long wait to get on the ferry, it was past lunch time and we were all hungry. We passed on getting a meal while on the ferry, knowing we could spend the same or less somewhere else once in Sechelt. One of Jason’s coworkers lives out this way, and recommended Buccaneers Restaurant to us.

On one side is a bar, and the other is the restaurant so make sure you go in the right side. We found some seats on the patio, and had a fabulous view of Porpoise Bay and Sechelt Inlet. The menu had lots to select from, and many great sea food options. Jason got a fish taco, and a chowder soup, and I went for the classic fish. The portions are great here, and we were easily able to share with Evie instead of ordering a kids meal too. There were lots of float planes taking off and landing and this kept Evie entertained while we were still eating. It was so pretty here, I knew things were going to be great once at the resort.

We had to do some more, about another half hour, to get to the resort. The drive is beautiful, as you are along the coast and get to see lots of the ocean. It reminded me a lot of our drive around Oregon when we were headed to the beach.

I had been told to keep my eye out for a boat and to turn left down that road, and then keep an eye out on the right for the resorts sign. We actually drove past the resort sign and had to turn around. Once there, we were quickly checked in, and got to park and unload. Where we stayed was like a townhouse. There are 31 villas at Painted Boat, while there are may be many visitors it still feels very small and not over crowded.

The villa itself was incredible (more on that in another post, so stay tuned). We felt very spoiled. It was an open concept for the kitchen and living area, and then there were 2 bedrooms and a little den that also had a pull out couch, connected to these. The master bathroom had this massive soaker tube that Evie discovered right away. She managed to turn on the water and came running out saying “Uh oh! Button! Uh oh! Button!” trying to explain what happened. She soon after was asking for a bath, so she had a bath before we were even unpacked.

We were nearing dinner time, but we wanted to check out the pool. I had heard that it was incredible, and we were not disappointed. We headed down for a quick dip before Evie needed to go to bed too. Evie got grumpy fast though so we were only at the pool for maybe half an hour before we headed back to our villa.

We didn’t have to bring the packnplay with as, the resort provided one. We put it in the second bedroom and set up the baby monitor so we could hear her if she woke from being in a different place. She thankfully went right to sleep, and even slept in the next morning (I think she knew we were on vacation).

Jason headed over to the IGA that was only a minute away to buy some groceries for us. We needed some things for dinner, and our lunch while there. The resort kindly provided us with breakfast each morning, our first breakfast was ready and waiting in the fridge when we arrives. Jason cooked up some steak skewers on the bbq that was on the patio, and we enjoyed dinner over looking the bay and watched the sun set.

We were finally getting to relax, it was so needed.

Part 2 coming soon. 

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