Nudibranch

This is the third installment of our series on diving near Vancouver. This time Stephen visits Ansell Point.

Ansell Point is a gem of a dive site, located about two kilometers north of Whtytecliffe Park en route to Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway. Look for the Ansell Road turn-off and after exiting and crossing the overpass take the first street on your left which is called Citrus Wynd. Follow it down and to the right to a cull-de-sac where you can park and suit up.

The most challenging part of the dive is getting down to the water. The staircase is sturdy and well built but its 65 steps in total. You may not know that climbing down but I guarantee that your legs will feel it when climbing back up after a successful dive. If you’re planning two dives leave your gear at the bottom of the stairs and just replace your tanks.

Ease of access to the water is pretty straight forward, particularly during high tide, and the depth drops off fairly quickly, bottoming out at 30-35 meters. This is a wall dive with the most interesting typography to the right as you enter the water. Look for all kinds of life in the crevices, nooks and crannies. There are rumored to be wolf eels but I have yet to see them.

One point of interest to the diver’s left as you enter the water is a wall cutting at about 20 meters that goes back into the cliff about 4-5 meters. It tends to be a gathering place for rockfish and ling cod and is a good place to begin your dive. I tend to start there before continuing on with the rest of my dive.

Navigation is pretty easy and current is fairly nominal. I’ve seen fishing line so it’s always good to keep a knife handy just in case. There are no facilities.

And don’t be surprised if you have the entire site to yourself. It’s a little out of the way and because of that often gets overlooked. It’s a great two tank dive though and one that I enjoy visiting on a regular basis.

Anemones

Purple Stars

Suited up...