Accessible only by boat, Government Island is actually a string of five islands, all best enjoyed the way Lewis and Clark did when they stopped there in 1805: as a boater's picnic spot. It was put in by the Salty's restaurant at Broughton Beach, and, as beaches go, is mainly a Vancouver bro repository. Once you're in the water with takeout in the boat, set sail for the south side of Government Island, where boats moor for picnic hours, the more obnoxious folk set up E-Z Ups on the waterfront, and you get a free water ski show on busy weekends, when tubers and skiers go along the island's south edge for hours on end.