Kelvin Grove

Here we find a beautiful, protected cove. Easy access for the 'Beach Club Members'. The ample parking you see here now boasts a sign "Resident Parking Only".

The 'no diving groups...' sign is gone. New bathrooms. It's easy to drop off gear at trailhead and park in one of three public parking spaces. I didn't (duh) and got a $35 fine for parking in one of 15 'resident only' spaces even though there were NO other cars. I'm not going to use the term Nazi, cuz I was stupid and broke the rule . At trail bottom a few sturdy stairs to a wooden bench, 6 feet down a slippy patch and climb over a few logs and rocks to an easy gravel entry at water's edge . Swim to your right to end of rocky point, then descend to 80-100 feet, follow wall out and back in around the point at this depth. Lots of fish and invertebrate life on wall, in many deep cracks. Octopus, Red Brotula. At half air retrace at 40-60 feet depth. Maybe best Howe Sound shore dive.

Visited this dive site last Wednesday for an evening dive. Visibility good! Around 30-40ft below 40ft depths. Saw a decorator warbonnet, stub squid eating a big shrimp, some small eels, and an assortment of other critters. Facilities are unlocked and relatively clean, but not stocked.

Have been here twice, no problems with locals. I believe they now indicate that divers park at the far end of the parking lot (farthest from the beach). I have done the wall on the right of the beach, it is great for all skill levels, with lots of cool life to be found in the upper plateau (50ft or so). I was told about some other interesting areas to the left of the beach but I haven't seen them myself. This is one of my favorite dive sites, but you must be prepared to lug your gear up and down a considerable incline, and the final few steps onto the beach have been washed out so footing is a bit tricky.

Have done this site many times in the last 6 months and the parking/local resident issue has never been a problem. Found octopus on most dives. Very good wall dive with interesting topography. Some times been to 130 ft and others just went out and back around 60 ft. Had a seal playing with my buddy last time there. Viz ranges from 15-60 ft. Better in the winter. Lots of nudibranchs, cloud and boot sponges, lings, greenlings,stars, and anenomies. Overall a great wall dive.

As an update, Kelvin Grove beach park in Lions Bay is now open only to scuba divers who live in Lions Bay, and their guests. Village Council decided this in June, 2009. The reason is that the beach is tiny, and lacks change-rooms and washrooms to accommodate diving groups. Too many divers were coming back and changing at their cars and urinating around the parking lot where residents and their children could see them. The Village Council hopes that divers who are residents will keep their guests from doing this sort of thing. There are now 3 spots that are visitor parking, for up to 3 hours. No permit required. Whytecliff or Porteau Cove are good alternatives.

It seems that the residents have backed off a bit as we met three separate people and they were fine. There was no signage saying that diving was restricted. There was a sign in the parking lot asking for divers/swimmers to respect the residents and not get changed at their vehicles. Permit is required from the Marina to be safe.

Me and my buddies dove this site couple of times before we found a new wall on the far left side of the bay. We entered on the far left side point (where the picnic table is located) and after we dropped down we followed a little boring sandy/rocky bottom, swimming for about 10 minutes at 40ft. The wall we discovered there was a nice gradual to steep slope from around 40 to 70 ft with average level of life on it. Saw a big octopus in a crack. There were multiple little caverns along the wall with rockfish and lingcod. We came to the end of the wall where the bottom continued with just sand and rocks. That's where we turned on half air and went up a little shallower to explore the wall a bit more on the way back. This was a nice dive where we did not get too cold as we did a fair amount of swimming. We would definitely like to explore the wall a bit more next time. The vis was pretty good for October.

Great site with 2 walls to explore. Parking pass available from Lions Bay Marina for $6. Would make an excellent night dive.

Parking is a nightmare. Don't park in the parking lot since it is reserved for residents with VALID PASS. Drop off your gear at beach entrance and park up on the highway (at own risk). Walk back down and carry gear to the beach, 200 yards. Dive site is so-so. There are plenty of good dive sites that require less hassle than this one.

Awesome site. The locals didn't give us any problems. Don't bother with the south wall, just go directly to the north one. Lots of little schooling silver fish, sea cucumbers, decorator crabs, nudibranchs, huge lingcod, rockfish galore, sea feathers, orange sea pens, and even a stubby squid!!! Great dive and nice, deep and dark at points (125ft).

Used to dive here before the locals became frightened of the strange monsters in rubber suits. Nice wall with burrowing sea cucumbers and feather stars. A seal used to play with us here. He's probably lonely now.

An enjoyable dive, albeit a difficult entry not for the access, simply for the locals. As in the site descriptor there are some residents that would 'prefer' no diver ever grace their fine beach. Be polite, and you may make it into the water. Parking is downright prohibitive in the area, forcing us to the highway. It's a short hike up the hill. Some log scrabbles to interrupt entry, but manageable with a buddy. The day was mainly overcast, but not enough to truly interrupt visibility. Water conditions were favorable with little/no plankton blooms. Visibility was surprisingly good for a summer dive, given the proximity to run-off streams. (Slack moving to low tide.) Water temp was moderate and easily tolerable with standard 7mil wetsuit. Remember your gloves (not like me) and you'll be fine. (Still tolerable.) We entered the water and surface swam to the (beach) right rock reef prior to descent. Most of our time was spent in the 40-55 depths, exploring the interesting local sea-life. Some shell off-cast areas leading us to believe octopus in area but am not sure. (Didn't see one.) Bottom is rock and rock wall with sand on a gentle decent. Better to save the (beach centre) sand area for the return leg to facilitate a safety-stop. Enjoyable to see the standard coastal plant life dotted with the occasional Sea-Pen, monster star-fish and lingcod. (Species of Star fish an arm-length across.) Overall an enjoyable dive.