British Columbia Guide and Deals
Recommended Outdoor Activities by Groupon Customers
Big Bear Salmon Charters' Grady White 282 Sailfish, affectionately named Big Bear, is part of a fleet that ferries fishermen into the aquatic playground of trophy salmon and halibut. The quiet rumble of its twin 225 hp engines spreads across Ucluelet, a habitat filled with fish, whales, and more squid than an ink factory's payroll. Once in the water, guides use all-digital E-Series Raymarine electronics and sounders to track fish, and specialized rods await the familiar tugs of halibut and salmon at the ends of lines. The world-class team stows fish on salt ice before they clean and optionally smoke each catch. The crew also invites anglers to take breaks from fishing in their comfortable cabin, outfitted with an audio system spitting out groovy tunes. Additionally, Black Rock Oceanfront Resort partners with Big Bear Salmon Charters to provide accommodations and create on-land relaxation.
Windsure Adventure Watersports' campers will never look at water the same way again. After five days of immersive instruction, certified instructors have transformed them into windsurfing experts. The instructors teach kids and adults how to control their Windsurfer sailboards, which slip across the waves using nothing but wind and the occasional courtesy push from Poseidon. The English Bay serves as their classroom. It surrounds surfers with views of sandy beaches, the distant Vancouver skyline, and lush evergreen trees that creep up mountainsides.
Windsurfers aren't the only ones in the bay. Elongated paddles cut through its calm water as Windsure's standup-paddleboarding instructors teach classes how to propel themselves forward. Back on the beach, others learn to slide across the sand during skim boarding camps or lessons.
Richmond Indoor Paintball lets competitive sharpshooters live out intricate battle strategies in 25,000 square feet of barricades, abandoned buildings, and streets made to look like a real town. Open year-round, the facility’s graffiti-splattered walls surround the field, and the beat-up old cars littered about offer cover. Players find only premium rental equipment, paintballs, and all elements of play kept feeling as though they were plucked straight from a video game. The space accommodates up to 60 guests from noon to midnight each day except Tuesday, when the facility closes for cleaning and community art-history lectures. Click here to view a virtual tour.
Seasoned staff pilots orchestrate Sea to Sky Air's ascents for sightseeing, travelling, and instructional purposes. Instructors secure views of Mother Nature’s most flattering angles during flight tours that whirl above Squamish Valley, Whistler, and Vancouver Harbour. Stationed in Squamish, the crew also coordinates charters to surrounding travel destinations, often taking off from Vancouver International Airport. Alternately, the certified flight instructors at Sea to Sky Air's flight school help aspiring pilots earn their private pilot licenses with Transport Canada–authorized curriculum.
The International Kiteboarding Association–certified instructors at Vancouver Kiteboarding School skip the stale classroom environment and instead lead courses taught entirely on the water, where kiteboarders can cut across waves and soar into the air. The teachers aim to introduce novices to the joys of the sport as well as help experienced boarders progress to advanced levels. Instructors never adhere to predetermined lesson plans, and instead change their curriculum as the water conditions change. This flexibility allows the skilled kiteboarders to teach their pupils how to navigate, catch air, and play fetch with a whale amid the ocean's ever-changing landscape.
To FlyBC Paragliding’s founder, Jim Reich, paragliding represents freedom. Not only does it free riders from the restrictions of gravity, it liberates them from the typical inconveniences of flight, such as expensive airplane fuel and restrictive air traffic regulations. Through Reich’s school, he now teaches newbies the sport, as well as other aerial arts such as hang gliding, paramotoring, and flapping your arms until you sort of levitate.
Reich and his instructors, all trained and certified by the Hanggliding and Paragliding Association of Canada, base their training and recreational flights out of a 25-acre training facility. Dubbed Eagle Ranch, the facility features an on-site hill and is nestled between two rivers. Beyond training, the school can outfit students in gear from brands such as Ozone, SkyCountry, and Gin, or lead them on paragliding trips that journey to scenic locales in Mexico,.
