Porteau Cove Provincial Park

Porteau Cove lies in the territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation). BC Parks calls Howe Sound the most southerly fjord in North America, and the picnic tables along the shore and the waterfront campsites look straight across it to the mountains. A train line runs along the park boundary, and you cross the tracks at a controlled crossing to get in.

Divers come for the man-made reefs and two sunken vessels in 6 to 18 m of water, inside a dive area marked by buoys. BC Parks bans diving from boats inside the park and advises against going inside the wrecks. The day-use area has an outdoor shower for divers from 1 March to 12 November and steps down to the water from the main lot. Harbour seals and porpoises turn up along this shore with river otters and mink, and every two years pink salmon spawn in the park's estuary.

The name comes from the French porte d'eau, which BC Parks translates as water's gate. It dates from 1908, when John F. Deeks began mining sand and gravel here for Vancouver. A small community of employees lived on site until the Depression and had good housing, a schoolhouse, tennis courts and a daily Union Steamship ferry.

On the park's foreshore BC Parks bans fishing and shellfish harvesting, and it doesn't allow beach fires or burning driftwood. Dogs stay on a leash and off the beach. Raccoons here raid unattended food and can turn aggressive once people feed them, BC Parks warns, so lock food in the car. BC's Wildlife Act makes feeding bears, cougars, coyotes or wolves an offence.