Copper Cove

The trail head is at the end of this pull-out. It's an easy hike from there to the entry. The small rocks are easy to cross. Help your buddy into the water, and enjoy! You'll arrive at this corner with very limited parking. This is the intersection of Marine Ave and Copper Cove Rd. Make a right here.

Bland and desolate best describes my experience at Copper Cove below sea level. This place is on the extreme end of the dire, raped like conditions of Howe Sound. The only life I saw larger than a looney were Dungeness crab and star fish. Dove the right side (north east) against the cliffs.

My wife and I came here for the first time this year in October. It was partly sunny and about 15C air temperature. The site has no facilities. There is a set of stairs that lead down to a rocky beach. The view is spectacular with a steady stream of boat and ferry traffic in view. Although not a protected site, there are no boats or places to dock boats that we could see. Once you have all your gear down to the cement patio that once had a dock attached to it, you have about a 10m walk to the water depending on tide. Your weak ankles will not be impressed with the rocks however it is safely negotiable. For the first dive we set off to the left side of the bay. There is a rock that juts out. We swam to this and dropped down, about 15m depth. Visibility was approx 5m. There was a wall here with limited plant and animal life. We followed the rock outcropping a little west then north to the steep sloped bottom. We made our way down to 32m and didn't see much. It was also getting darker and visibility getting more limited so time to head back. We slowly made a direct line back to the shore entry. It was an enjoyable dive but not anything to get excited about. For the second dive we went off to the right side. This a fairly shallow wall. We swam out about 30 m from shore and about 15m from the shore. We started about 5m and never went deeper than 9m while following the wall. The wall is a ton of medium sized boulders. We saw several small schools of fish, crabs and kelp. We easily could have spent lots of time here searching in all the little hiding spots. There was very little current to deal with on either side of the cove. We have about 40 dives under our belt and found this a very relaxing and fun site. The stairs here are much less daunting than Whytecliff. The surface swim is at least half of what you would do at Whytecliff before descending. We are planning to come back here for sure!

This is a great little site that, in my opinion, is overlooked and ignored as everyone just drives past and heads to Whytecliff. Copper Cove is a nice relaxing dive where I can almost guarantee you that will be all on your own. If you head to the right it is shallow (10 meters/30 feet) and doesn't get much deeper but there are a ton of large rocks to poke around and find all sorts of life hiding. There are typically a ton of sea cucumbers with their feeding arms out, a plethora of crabs bombing about, a few Greenlings and Lingcod lounging on the rocks and, of course, the usual monster-size stars. If you venture further out to the right there are a few overhangs and small caverns to checkout. The right of the cove isn't the most exciting at first glance but if you look close you can find some jewels. In the sand, in about the middle-to-right of the cove, we found an old abandoned crab trap covered in a few anemones and some longhorn decorator crabs. We had a friendly seal show up at the beginning of the dive to come check us out as well. If you head out to the left of the cove to the rocks and the head straight out over the sand you will find yourself in a surprisingly large anemone field. There were a couple of large boulders absolutely covered in plumose anemones and some of the biggest urchins I have ever seen. A definite surprise. Brittle and feather stars abound and the odd sea pen here and there. The bottom slopes steeply beginning around 15 meters with most of the life between 15 and 25 meters. We spotted a few cloud sponges around 25 meters. A plethora of fish and crabs to be found hanging around. The shallow rocks to the left of the cove (2 to 6 meters deep) provide a colourful and lively area to hang out for safety stops. Be careful when putting in, some of the logs that may be in the way are mighty slippery and the rocks are just that perfect size to make walking awkward. Being fully exposed to ferry traffic, this site does get the brunt of the ferry wake. Give this site a go and really explore the area as there are a bunch of man made objects and natural formation that yield some pretty impressive life. Happy diving!

We enjoyed this dive and will go back. It was just the three of us all day except for a couple that lived in the area coming for a quick wall dive before heading to work. We did two dives. The first was a short bottom dive to explore to about 60'. Lots of stars and a few plumose anemones. Second dive was off to the left to a wall that was bottomless. Brittle stars, current, and a sea cucumber stand-off that was mesmerizing. A great place to really get some experience in a very relaxing environment. No facilities at all. Parking on the residential street but there is a great turnaround right at the stairs to the shore.

A nice site for a shore dive or two. Snorkel way out off the point to the left for a bit of a wall with some good life on it. Do the same off the cliff to the left for a few big cloud sponges, a shy octopus, and a few sections of wall. The bay is shallow and sandy, so it's worth swimming out on the surface.