This place has been a popular Howe Sound shore dive for well over a decade. It's located at the end of Tidewater Way in the Village of Lions Bay. Back in the late '90s, when I lived in the Vancouver area, it was one of my favorite spots. It was also well-known as a place that wasn't very welcoming to divers (or anyone who wasn't a local resident). The increasingly-restrictive parking bylaws weren't enough to keep the poor people away, so in 2009, they brought in a new bylaw banning diving for anyone who wasn't a local. Not all the locals are supportive of the exclusive bylaws. Well-known politician/radio host/author/journalist Rafe Mair (a local resident) is one of the more vocal diver-friendly subversives. Anyway, the "no diving" signs have been missing lately and the roving death squads are laying low, so I drove up from Horseshoe Bay for a nostalgic dive on Dec. 20, 2010. I dropped off my gear at the start of the trail and drove back up across the railway tracks to the parking lot. It was a Monday, so the parking lot was empty (there are a few visitor parking spots). I walked down the short trail, past the tiny sewage treatment plant (which didn't smell that great and people in hazmat suits were working on something or other). From the beach I swam out towards the point on the right. Visibility was about 40 feet and the white-sand bottom really brightened things up. The side of the rocky point dropped underwater in reefs and ledges. A wall started up at around 60 feet and I followed it down to just over 100 feet deep. When I last dove here, over a decade ago, I saw lots of red, white and orange burrowing cucumbers, but this time I didn't see any. Instead, the wall was covered with boot sponges and small cloud sponges. When I used to dive here, I only saw one tiny cloud sponge (a few inches across) at about 80 feet deep. I was pretty excited about that and I probably still have the picture I took of it. It's hard to believe the change over the last 10 years. Now, this is probably the most concentrated population of boot sponges I've seen so far. I swam up to the top of the wall, where there were sandy areas and reefs covered with feather stars and a few crimson anemones. I didn't notice any plumose anemones. In the shallows, there were those piles of sunflower stars so common in Howe Sound. It would be a shame to lose access to such a nice spot. In neighborhoods like this, the best way to maintain good relations is to visit in small groups (not a problem for me), keep the volume of the enthusiastic dive conversations down and avoid public nudity and public defecation (seriously, those are some of the local's complaints).
