Mackenzie Beach,
west coast
of Vancouver Island | Relax
and contemplate life as you follow snail tracks along sandy beaches and chase
cheeky crabs into rocky crevices. Search through seaweed and barnacled driftwood
and hunt amongst stranded tree trunks for those precious little treasures the
sea so generously yields at every ebb of the tide.
Mussels, periwinkles, clams and hermit crabs, they're all there - you just have
to find them!
Rich tidal pools, a shoreline full of life, and fantastic
geological features attract visitors to Botanical Beach,
northwest of Victoria, one of the most amazing places on the entire West Coast,
particularly at low tide.
You can spend days walking the sandy beaches
along Long Beach, between Ucluelet and Tofino, and the beaches on the east coast
of Vancouver Island offer fabulous expanses of firm white sand that stretch for
miles at low tide.
Treasure Spots:
The best known and most
visited of the 3 regions of Pacific Rim National Park
is Long Beach, famous for the long sandy
beaches of Schooner Cove and Wickaninnish and Florencia Bays, stretching between
the two villages of Tofino and Ucluelet.
Juan
de Fuca Provincial Park offers scenic beauty, spectacular hiking, marine and
wildlife viewing, and roaring surf along the Pacific coastline of the Strait of
Juan de Fuca.
Without a doubt, Sidney Spit Marine
Park boasts the finest beaches of all parks in the Victoria region of Vancouver
Island. One of the main attractions of the park is the famous sandbar, the Sidney
Spit .
Today, Pender Islands,
with a balmy sub-Mediterranean climate, seven parks and over 20 clearly marked
public beach accesses, these friendly rural islands are fabulous for family vacations,
romantic escapes, seminars and retreats.
The warm ocean water and sandy
beach makes Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park a family
camping favourite. At low tide, almost a kilometre of sandy flats are exposed,
perfect for beachcombing. When the tide rolls in over the sun-baked sand, the
warmed water is unbeatable for swimming.
Located on Hornby Island, the
95-hectare Tribune Bay Provincial Park is known for
its beautiful white sandy beach and unusual rocky shoreline formations.
While anytime is ideal for dipping your toes in the ocean, the broad safe sandy
beach at Miracle Beach Provincial Park is perfect
for sandcastle building or studying the marine life of tidal pools.
Rebecca
Spit Provincial Park - sandy beaches line both sides of the narrow spit at
sheltered Drew Harbour, backed by open uplands interspersed with stands of mostly
second-growth trees, shrubs and grasses.
| Treasure
Tips: | | | Available
year-round | | | Low
tide is best - check newspapers for low tide times | |
| Collecting
is prohibited in parks | | | Protect
the fragile ecosystems and their tiny inhabitants | |
| Replace
organisms and rocks as you found them | | | Beachcombing
Tours available | |
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