Porteau Cove

Description

Porteau Cove is one of Canada's many dive parks. Canada prides itself on its many dive parks, and in all honestly, it is rather impressive. Most of the park is well mapped, with line and buoy's marking the way. The park hosts several large shipwrecks that were sunk to form the park. These wrecks have been "environmentalized", gutted, and in general, are fairly safe for most divers.

Location

Drive north on I-5 until you reach the Canadian/US Border. Once across, park at the nearest Information Boot and ask for directions. I found the Canadian officials to be very friendly, and provided us with all the necessary information and maps that we needed. The Cove is about 35 kilometers out of Vancouver. This is 20 kil. north of Horseshoe Bay (BC ferry terminal).

Comments

There were far too many wrecks to look at for just one dive. Bring some extra tanks and make a day out of it. There are plenty of facilities at the park to accommodate the divers needs. It's a well visited park, so expect a lot of people. The only note I can add that visibility is a hit or miss deal. And, there seems to be little life on and amongst the wrecks. I saw a few small lingcod and some shrimp, but that was about it. Noticeably missing were the white metridium and sea anemone that are so common in the lower Puget Sound. But, if wrecks are your gig, than this is a must for you. I give this site a one Thumb Up on the Parker Scale.