[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kLnCM7C_zc?feature=oembed&w=640&h=480]
By Stephen Pearce. Another installment of our series on diving near Vancouver. This time Stephen visits Whytecliff Park.
“And shades of deep-embattled clouds were seen,
Spotting the northern cliffs with lights between…
“An Evening Walk”, W. Wordsworth: 1793
When William Wordsworth penned those lines to his sister, he probably wasn’t thinking about diving for cloud sponges in British Columbia. Yet, with a little luck, recreational scuba divers can discover fluffy “clouds” of sponges in colours of snowy white, ivory and pale orange that hug the underwater cliffs.
Sponges are primitive organisms, both beautiful and fragile, and can exist in a variety of shapes and sizes. Cloud sponges take their name from their puffy, cloud-like appearance, and at depth they can be found in large assemblages; favouring the rock ledges and steep walls of the BC coast. The larger cloud sponges are thought to be hundreds of years old.
On Sunday July 31st my buddy Darek and I entered the water at Whytecliff Park just after low tide, using the entrance at the “Cut”. The plan was to descend to a maximum depth of 95 feet (29 meters) looking for cloud sponges and after 15 minutes to begin a gradual ascent making our way through the plumose gardens into the bay.
The Cut is a popular entry point for more experienced divers that allows for easy access to great wall diving. And BC is renowned for some of the best wall diving in the world.
We were fortunate to find some beautiful examples of cloud sponges just shortly after we began our dive. Check out the short video that was shot with my Canon camera. I didn’t have access to strobes so the lighting is natural and the deep green colour is a function of the sunlight at depth as well as the predominance of plant matter and plankton.
We surfaced 47 minutes later in the shallows of the sheltered bay to find ourselves among curious swimmers and sunbathers. Whytecliff Park was bustling with activity on a beautiful civic holiday weekend.
After changing our tanks, and a surface interval of about an hour, Darek and I decided we just had to go gazing at clouds all over again. I think Mr. Wordsworth would have approved.
Whytecliff Park (15.63 hectares in size) is a regional park located in a beautiful corner of Howe Sound just a short drive from downtown Vancouver. The waters off the Park became Canada’s first Salt Water Marine Protected Area in 1993 and are now famous for incredible underwater diving. Washrooms, picnic areas, and a shower station (on a seasonal basis) add to the popularity of this dive site.
