Tide Pools in Vancouver?
 

I was just looking at the low and high tides coming up for the Vancouver area and want to find some nice tide pools to check out. Where is the best spot in Vancouver ofr low tide life? I used to do this down in Florida all the time and it was amazing what would get stuck in tide pools but I have never gone out during low tide here in Vancouver...not really sure where to go?

I know the best spots are West Vancouver Island but Im just looking for something local.

I used to love looking around the bay at White Rock....I know..its not totally local.....but there were lots of things to look at

Lighthouse park in West Vancouver has limited but deep and some very large tide pools which are quite impressive with lotsa starfish, small anemones,plumose anemones, sculpins,crabs etc....

These pools are near the bluffs and quite accessable

I was just out at Centennial Beach in Tsawassen this weekend. The tide goes out for miles leaving a ton of pools everywhere.

As per what was said right above. I grew up a 30second walk from Centenial Beach in Tsawwassen. So beautiful and you can find some really awesome things! Best time to go is when there is almost a minus tide, and you can walk out the the marker (shows the U.S. and Canada boarder) you see big crabs, starfish, sand dollars, gooie ducks and a lot of many other random things! After living there for 20 years, and now living in Alberta away from my parents whenever I go home to visit my rents, I always go for a walk on the beach! Highly recommend!

theres some good tidepool areas around the sea wall. Just a little bit East of Lumberman's arch, there's a large flat that is exposed at low tide. Remember your rubber boots though... the whole thing will be very wet and slippery.

Thanks guys! Some good ideas. Its suppose to be quite low this sunday and monday mornings/evenings. I think it gets very low the next weekend.

Aww!! what a great idea, if it's nice out tomorrow I'm totally going down to the tide pools

if enough people are interested maybe we could make it a canreef event? just throwin it out there.

Great Idea. My g/f & I would love to go out & see some tide pools.

Next Weekend would be perfect.

What time is low tide in the mornings?

I've got a 1 1/2 drive to get anywhere being in the 'Wack!

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id be down for a canreef tide pool search.

i found some good tide pool at white rock beach with lots of nems.

Figured I would bump this thread rather than starting a new one. Thanks to this thread I've got Centennial Beach and White Rock on my schedule for this weekend. Was wondering if anyone else had any other suggestions for tide pools to check out as I'll be in the Vancouver area this coming weekend.

If you want to meet up, we can go to Centennial Beach and White Rock together. I am planning to go down there with the family to visit the tide pools. They also have a great big new playground at Centennial Beach.

Anthony

tread lightly around white rock. my mother-in-law lives there and she dwarfs a lot of those crabs in both size and ferocity.

Canreef tidepool meet up! I'm there! I'll PM you my number and we can work out the details. My kids are super excited to play in the tide pools. It's pretty much all the want to do.

Anyone else interested ??

Also, would the water be too cold to wade in ? Should they bring their rubber boots and/or water shoes?

If you're in the water it could be alittle cold, we were out about a month ago at centennial crabbing, in waist high water it was cold but as the tide went out it wasn't bad after, mind you it was 30c outside. We just wore rubber slip on shoes from Walmart, $5 a pair.

If its cloudy this weekend it could be colder, I would say to be prepared and dress warm!

Ya man, there are a bunch of good places. The places you are going to check out are awesome but they are basically are more mud flat. If you want some more diversity, rocky tide pools have cool sea life like nems, etc. Whytecliffe is a great marine park to go bomb around in, as is Lighthouse park. If you drive a bit out of the city you can go to Ansel Point and Kelvin Grove for tide pools (they are also awesome diving spots). Last time I was at Ansel at low tide I saw an octopus checking out the few pools there for crabs.

Thanks! We'll hit up walmart tonight for some water shoes.

I like rocky tide pools! Thanks! What's the best time of the day to check these out ?

Whytecliff and Lighthouse Parks are some favourite spots of mine. I can't remember offhand how you get to the water though, at Lighthouse, you kinda need to scramble down the rocks, do you not? But the whole park makes for a really pleasant walk and is not long of a hike. Your kids will love it (look for banana slugs along the way to the lighthouse :) )

Whytecliff is a very popular spot for divers, so is fun sitting at that little rocky beach watching the divers coming in or going out. I don't remember seeing too many tidepools but there must be good ones there at low tide.

http://tides.gc.ca/eng/station?sid=7735

In Howe sound you get fewer pools but more rocky cliffs with life. At Whytecliff there is a land bridge that connects the shore to the island just off the beach at low tide. There are certainly pools in there to check out and once you are on the island there some other pools to check out near the outmost tip. At low tide all the cliff walls are exposed so you get to see a TON of starfish and sunstars (which can be over a meter across!). There are lots of areas to explore there so you'll be surprised what you'll find. I've found brooding and painted anemones right at the water's edge and you'll usually get visits from the friendly neighbourhood seals. Whytecliffe is a marine reserve so the density of life is pretty high.

Lighthouse park is a really cool park to go explore - in my opinion it's Vancouver's most beautiful park and I'm sure many will agree. There are rocks down by the water that the kids can go scramble around on and, if you head toward the lighthouse there are small beach areas. At low tide there are some pools and walls that are exposed.

Ansel point is a small area but I've always found the best life there. Park at the bottom of Ansel Place and walk down the wood stairs to the water. At low tide there is a granite shelf that is exposed where you see diver's suit up. There are pools there that can have some pretty neat stuff depending on how the weather has been (it's been pretty dry and sunbaked here for a while without too many windy/wavy days, so the pools might be a bit barren right now). You can sit at the edge of the granite shelf and watch the life on the wall (it's a 500ft vertical cliff straight down under water). It's not uncommon to see 6ft lingcod, sculpins and octopus scuttling along the wall. Sometimes you can get visits from the pair of wolf eels who live on the wall (they like to snuggle with people - weird, yes, but very cool).

Kelvin Grove is a beach area in Lion's Bay. Great beach for playing and swimming. No cliffs like the other locations (except for one at the far end of the beach which is greatfor cliff diving). There are some pools and walls that are exposed at low tide. Snorkeling is great there. I always see crabs, jelly fish, painted greenlings and anemones there. Since it's end of summer, all the prawns are coming to the shallows to mate and they like to congregate in Kelvin Grove. Sometimes you can see them quite shallow when snorkeling, sometimes coming right up to the shore for food.

The water isn't that cold (it is if you're a sissy :wink:), you can easily wade around and swim.

The mud flat areas are huge areas to explore but diversity tends to be low. The areas I described are the more typical BC rocky shoreline that has really cool sealife.

We also have Locarno Beach out in Kitsilano where the tide goes out 1 km at low tide. Great for kids to go play. Not a ton of sea life to find but I go come across stuff from time to time.

Actually there are some awesome tide pools at Porteau Cove, up the Sea-to-Sky highway. We were just at Lighthouse Park yesterday (high tide unfortunately) and it is a cool place to visit.

And yeah, now that I think about it, if its rocky tide pools, then Centennial and White Rock are mud flats, not rocky tide pools.

Anthony

A little off topic but .. since SHF brought it up .. Porteau Cove is a gem of a place! Years ago we camped there. That's when, around 3am or so, we discovered that sleeping in a tent about 10' next to a railway parking line can be an interesting experience. But what a cool little spot.

White Cliff Park, W.Van
Keith Park, N.Van
Deep Cove, N.Van

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! We ended up spending the morning at Centennial beach. Wow, we LOVED that beach. Very family friendly with a playground, clean posh bathrooms, a cafe. Kids had so much fun.

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Lots of tide pools to frolic in. As suggested, we grabbed some cheap water shoes at Walmart for everyone and set out to find critters. In the various pools.

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My son was able to find and catch quite a few local critters ranging from crabs, tiny fish, hermit crabs and even a couple of flounders (I think?).

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I didn't think that we'd be there that long but they didn't want to leave so we ended up meeting up with Seahorse Fanatic and his family there for a BBQ lunch on the beach.

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Good times and great eats! Thanks again man! :-)

the first fish is a starry eye flounder the one in the cup looks like a rock sole :smile:

That looks way better than the swimmer's itch and minnows me and the kids caught his summer at the lake lol.

You are MOST WELCOME my friend. Any time.

Anthony

Once again, thanks for the suggestions. This morning we headed up to Whytecliff Park. Another awesome place that my kids absolutely loved!

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The park was quite different from the beach and tide pools that we went to yesterday (at Centennial) but that was perfectly fine by us. There were plenty of things to discover with the turn of each rock.

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And boy were there a lot of rocks to turn :lol:

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It was also a very nice area to hike and picnic. I also wished that I had brought my bike. So jealous of all the cyclists whipping through the park. Next time!

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There actually were a few tide pools here as well.

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So ya, the kids had so much fun here that it was virtually impossible for me to peel them away from the park. As a result I ended up getting to the frag meet much later than I had originally planned.

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Wish we had time to check out all those other places that were suggested. I suppose this means we will have to do a longer visit next time. :-)

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Kein,

Next year, why don't you four stay with us. It'll be a bit crowded, but then we can go hit the tide pools together. My kids enjoy spending time with yours. Save your $$ for more stuff for your tanks. :wink::wink::wink:

I live 4 minutes from Hwy 1, 15 minutes from Bblinks' and 13 minutes from J&L.:biggrin:

Anthony

Thanks so much! You are too generous! And the most amazing griller I've ever met! Wish we had time to take you up on your breakfast invite! Next time for sure!

Nice pics. One of the many reasons they call it Beautiful B.C.

I would have loved to have had time for a bunch of us to meet up for food while you were here
I know your time here was limited, but next time lets make it a party :lol:

Kien's annual venture to BC take 2, and it'll be a huge food fest

I'd love the opportunity for a bunch of us to sit around, eating while being served (without poor Anthony having to feed us) and just talk

Looking forward to it

Heck, I'd kick in $10-20 per person who wants to make a trip here
With our member numbers, maybe we could fund someone's trip who'd like to come here for a meet ...

I'm sure it'll get complicated, but it's a thought :wink:

Thanks to your pics Kien, we'll be taking my sister-in-law and her family with us to Whytecliff Park next Saturday to check out the tide pools. Her boys mainly know wildlife from DVDs and online videos/pics so it'll be cool for them to check out real wild creatures in the tide pools. Low tide will be around 1:30pm next Saturday, NOT 7am, haha.

Anthony

Glad you had a good time. It looks like your kids are about the same age as Anthony and mine.

Next time you're out to bc maybe we'll join you guys. Maybe we could even organize a Canreef behind the scenes thing with the Vancouver Aquarium.

I'm off most of the summer so I'm good to go everywhere.

Great Pics,thanks for sharing