Greater Vancouver
Belcarra Regional Park is the place to head for underwater exploration in Indian Arm. As well as wading in from the beach beside Belcarra’s pier, there’s a small street-end park at Whiskey Cove on Coombe Road where divers also put in, located a 5-minute walk east of the picnic area.
Other popular dive sites include nearby Racoon Island and Twin Island, which make up Indian Arm Provincial Park. These are among the very few islands that dot Indian Arm. If you’d like to spend the night, there are wilderness campsites on Big Twin Island. Farther up Indian Arm, Croker Island, a proposed regional park, is yet another dive site.
The North Shore
As you make your way along the beach at Whytecliff Marine Park, you’ll probably see wet-suited figures emerge from the embankment and make their way towards the ocean. After a day at the office, scuba divers come to experience a little weightlessness as they float off into the nether world just offshore, where temperatures matter little year-round, provided you dress appropriately.
Although the majority of park visitors prefer gum boots over wet suits, Whytecliff Marine Park has become a magnet for local divers. A list of rules of conduct, prominently displayed in the parking lot, are directed primarily at the divers, who are encouraged to change in the washrooms and to keep their language clean!
Interpretive signs explain in words and pictures the variety of marine life to be found beneath the waves. The setting here at the mouth of Howe Sound is dramatic, with the vastness of the Strait of Georgia spead out to the west.
Whytecliff Marine Park’s rugged shoreline and cobble beach lie in West Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay neighbourhood. To find your way to the park, take the Upper Levels Hwy west to Horseshoe Bay. Turn west onto Marine Dr, just before the BC Ferries toll booth. Signs point the way to Whytecliff at all major intersections from here. The entrance to the park is at the western end of Marine Dr. If you’re in no hurry, enjoy the scenic route by taking Marine Dr through West Vancouver rather than the Upper Levels Highway.
