Porteau Cove Provincial Park
Squamish-Lillooet D, British Colombia
Situated along the Sea to Sky Highway, Porteau Cove Provincial Park offers easy access to Howe Sound, the southernmost fjord in North America. A popular destination year-round, the park provides waterfront day-use areas and campsites, pebble beaches, picnic areas, boat launches and mooring buoys, and plenty of ways to enjoy the water.
Water activities are a big draw for park visitors, including swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, paddling, windsurfing, and boating. The park offers some of the most scenic camping in the area, with waterfront campsites and cabins. In high season, interpretive programs are available. Some Whistler and Squamish tours from Vancouver stop at Porteau Cove Provincial Park, plus area highlights including Shannon Falls, Brackendale Eagle Provincial Park, Britannia Mine Museum, and the Sea to Sky Gondola.
Porteau Cove Provincial Park is ideal for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts, especially fans of water sports.
There are no lifeguards on duty at the park.
Fishing and gathering of marine life are not allowed inside the park.
The park offers wheelchair-accessible areas, including restrooms and parking, camping, and wildlife viewing from the pier.
Porteau Cove Provincial Park is located around 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Squamish and 24 miles (38 kilometers) north of Vancouver. Take the Sea to Sky Highway and follow the exit for the park (not Porteau Road). Sightseeing tours with transfers make it easy to visit the park from Vancouver. The park is also accessible by boat, and a mooring float can be found at the park's south end.
Porteau Cove Provincial Park is open year-round and is especially popular in the summer. Limited services are available from mid-November to the end of February. In winter, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to launch boats due to driftwood accumulation. From spring to fall, it’s possible to see orcas, humpback whales, and gray whales.
Porteau Cove Provincial offers some of the best scuba diving in the area. There is a series of man-made reefs, which is home to more than 100 species of marine life. There are also three shipwrecks, intentionally sunk in 1992. There’s a separate parking area for divers and a divers' building with changing rooms and a seasonal shower. Divers are not permitted to use the boat launch. Boats are also not allowed in the diving area.
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