Belcarra Bay

[KaBoOm]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on attending a company picnic at Belcarra Park on August 13th and I understand that the diving from there is quite good. I was wondering if anyone on the board has any experience diving there?

If it's worth hauling the gear out, I'm wondering if anyone wants to buddy up for a dive on the 13th in the afternoon? If there is an opportunity to dive, where can I rent tanks/weights since I won't be flying with those. There is also a possibility of having access to a boat that belongs to one of my co-workers.

Any answers are appreciated!

Andrew

 

[AtomicWalrus]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on attending a company picnic at Belcarra Park on August 13th and I understand that the diving from there is quite good. I was wondering if anyone on the board has any experience diving there?

If it's worth hauling the gear out, I'm wondering if anyone wants to buddy up for a dive on the 13th in the afternoon? If there is an opportunity to dive, where can I rent tanks/weights since I won't be flying with those. There is also a possibility of having access to a boat that belongs to one of my co-workers.

Any answers are appreciated!

Andrew

Belcarra Park itself isn't anything spectacular - shore dive on a shallow rocky reef with some starfish, etc. However, you'd be right around the corner from a couple of neat dive sites. Whiskey Cove is about a 5 minute drive away, with a nice little mini wall, sculpins, rockfish, and tons of crab. A little further along in Bedwell Bay you can find the wreck of the VT-100, a 130' long former minesweeper sunk by vandals in the 1950s. Both Whiskey Cove and the VT-100 are shore dives.

If you've got access to a boat, there are even more possibilities. Across Bedwell Bay from the VT-100 you can dive 2 other wrecks: the Western Dispatcher, a converted former WW2 subchaser; and the remains of a 19th century sealing schooner. There are plenty of other good boat dives in the area such as Raccoon Island and Jug Island.

A couple of points about diving in the Belcarra area in the summer: visibility tends to be poor due to plankton blooms, and it's prime jellyfish season. Visibility is typically around 10 ft in summer, although I've seen it as good as 30 ft and so bad that my buddy and I basically kept track of each other by staying so close that we were always kicking each other. The whole Indian Arm area seems to be great territory for Lion's Mane jellyfish in the summer, which are also hard to see in the poor visibility, so be cautious.

A good place to go for tanks & weights when diving near Belcarra is Dive & Sea in New Westminster (www.diveandsea.com). They can also give you great advice on local diving & dive sites.

 

[JustinF]

I get out to Belcarra Bay almost every weekend to freedive & snorkle. There are tons of small crab, starfish, a few anemones, nothing spectacular though.

If your actually at the picnic area there is a neat rock outcropping you could poke around at for fun. Just follow the beach towards Port Moody, till the beach terminates at a large rock outcropping. You can poke around there & chase some crabs, see small jellyfish, there are plumose anemones and the such, nothing too fancy.

 

[KaBoOm]

I get out to Belcarra Bay almost every weekend to freedive & snorkle. There are tons of small crab, starfish, a few anemones, nothing spectacular though.

If your actually at the picnic area there is a neat rock outcropping you could poke around at for fun. Just follow the beach towards Port Moody, till the beach terminates at a large rock outcropping. You can poke around there & chase some crabs, see small jellyfish, there are plumose anemones and the such, nothing too fancy.

Maybe that's what I'll do is just take my mask, snorkle and fins. I'm diving the next day anyway.

Thanks for the input!

 

[JustinF]

Maybe that's what I'll do is just take my mask, snorkle and fins. I'm diving the next day anyway.

Thanks for the input!

Take your exposure suit! The water is warm, but we wear wetsuits, hood, boots & gloves. We all wear O'Neil 3:6 mm J-Type Wetsuit if that helps you decide what to wear.

On a side note if your interested, If your're there on a weekend or there is a Parks service worker on the dock with a kiddie pool, see if they want you to catch anything. They usually setup a little pool for kids to see some of the local life & we snag some critters for them to see.

Enjoy!

 

[KaBoOm]

Take your exposure suit! The water is warm, but we wear wetsuits, hood, boots & gloves. We all wear O'Neil 3:6 mm J-Type Wetsuit if that helps you decide what to wear.

On a side note if your interested, If your're there on a weekend or there is a Parks service worker on the dock with a kiddie pool, see if they want you to catch anything. They usually setup a little pool for kids to see some of the local life & we snag some critters for them to see.

Enjoy!

I'll only have my 2pc 7mm suit with me, I'll bring the one piece along and of course gloves and boots. Thanks for the tips, could be an interesting outing after all.