Dundarave

Dundarave Park sits on the water at the foot of 25th Street, with more than 50 metres of sandy beach and nearly a hectare of waterfront. The pier runs out from the park, and this is where the Centennial Seawalk starts its 1.7 kilometres east to the bottom of 18th Street. Seven palm trees grow near the beach because the District was given them in the fall of 2019 from the grounds of the old Earls restaurant near Capilano Road. Look for the German Friendship Globe on the beach as well.

The Beach House at 150 25th Street sits by the water at the pier, with prix fixe menus at lunch and dinner. Tables for four or fewer get a two-hour seating, and a group of five or more books by phone. Up on Marine Drive, Temper Chocolate & Pastry at number 2409 specializes in European pastries and chocolates, and its online orders need 48 hours' notice. Delany's Coffee House at 2424 Marine Drive opens at 6 am on weekdays and 6:30 am at weekends, early enough for coffee before the walk.

The name comes from Dundarave Castle on Loch Fyne in Scotland, which was the ancestral seat of the Macnaghten clan. Russell Elliot Macnaghten taught classics at McGill University College in Vancouver and later at UBC, and in 1909 he and others bought and subdivided land here. BC Geographical Names gives the Gaelic meaning as "the two oars", since the castle was reached by rowboat.

In winter the park washrooms still open every day from 6 am to 10 pm. Lifeguards and the floating swim dock come back in summer, and the dock goes in by late June each year. West of the village, Marine Drive winds on toward Lighthouse Park and Whytecliff Park, where West Van charges for parking all year from 7 am to 10 pm, and the 250 bus follows the same road all the way to Horseshoe Bay.