“A River Point Of View”
Now celebrating more than 30-years of service on the Fraser River, Paddlewheeler Riverboat Tours is a full services river tour company in New Westminster, a city with a long and close association with the Fraser River. New Westminster got its start over 150 years ago as a river and seaport. It was here that deep-sea ships could transfer their passengers and cargoes to sternwheelers for the journey up-river to the mines and boom-towns of the Fraser River Gold Rush. Paddlewheelers were ideal for working in the river because they could sail in very shallow water, but eventually, as roads and railways were built, other modes of transportation took over. Yet if you wander the waterfront of New Westminster today, you are likely to see one sternwheeler still running. This is the 100-passenger paddlewheeler M.V. Native, operated by Paddlewheeler Riverboat Tours out of her dock adjacent to the Inn at the Quay, along with her running-mate, the 40-passenger catamaran Beta Star. Together these two boats make over 200 trips annually out of their home-port of New Westminster and carry on average over 10,000 passengers every year.
Doug and Helga Leaney started the company way back in 1989, running a 40 passenger boat out of Fort Langley. With Paddlewheeler Riverboat Tour’s acquisition of the M.V. Native in 1993, New Westminster got its first passenger-carrying sternwheeler since the 1920s.
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The Native is an authentic sternwheeler that takes you literally back in time as you journey the historic Fraser. With a well-appointed Galley to serve you delicious fresh hot meals, two comfortable lounges and outside sheltered deck areas, the Native offers great views and plenty of space. More recently, Paddlewheeler Riverboat Tours became a two-boat fleet with the arrival of the modern catamaran, the Beta Star. This fast and manoeuvrable vessel is used for the Wednesday cruise down to the mouth of the Fraser River at Steveston, for the Celebration of Lights Fireworks Cruises around to English bay and out to the back-country wilderness of Pitt Lake. Featuring great views from her two passenger decks and a full galley to provide delicious meals, the Beta Star is fast enough to eat up the miles on those longer trips on the Pitt and Fraser Rivers.
