Vancouver is not a swimming city and therefore, in my view, not a beach city (of course, thousands of beachgoers will disagree). In spite of several hundred crazies who scuttle into the frigid waters of English Bay every New Year’s Day (and immediately run out again), the ocean water is never particularly inviting. It’s saved only by two spectacularly sited open-air (and slightly heated) pools — the salt¬water Kitsilano Pool (604-731-0011) in Kits Beach Park and the Second Beach Pool (604-257-8371) in Stanley Park, both operated by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.
In East Vancouver, an outdoor freshwater pool designed for family swimming is located in New Brighton Park, off McGill Street, north of Hastings Park (604-298-0222). There’s also a small children’s beach, with a lifeguard, at Trout Lake in John Hendry Park, off East i9th Avenue at Victoria Drive.
Wreck Beach (Westside) is something else entirely. More of a culture, really. A long, somewhat ill-defined stretch of rock, logs, and sand around the westernmost extremity of Point Grey, and below the bluffs of UBC, Wreck Beach has been so-called clothing-optional since the 1920S. In summer, it morphs into something of a functioning under-ground economy with food and beer vendors, and people selling neo-hippie clothing (oddly enough) and, presumably, soft drugs.
Politics on the beach can be fierce, and occasionally spills into the newspapers and electronic media (TV loves it, of course): an unsolved murder; worries that the custodians of Pacific Spirit Park, in which Wreck Beach is formally located, are threatening hard-won nudist rights; concern about the perennial erosion of the cliffs above.
Wreck Beach inevitably carries on in its anarchic way. However, this being Canada, it’s impossible for even the most regulation-phobic to avoid the long reach of bureaucracy. The latest news I’ve had is that park officials, in keeping with efforts to manage out-of-control off-leash dog walking (or havoc, or whatever) in the upper reaches of the park, have formally declared a small section of Wreck Beach “off-leash” for nudist pet owners.
That’s reason enough to retreat northward to Spanish Banks and Locarno Beach (Westside). Both are “family beaches,” the parks board emphasizes. Actually, it’s here that the Vancouver foreshore is at its finest — long stretches of albeit imperfect sand that, when the tide is low, creates shallow pools of toasty water and miniature, temporary aquariums. Best of all is an ocean setting of sailboats leaning in the wind, larger-than-life freighters, and beyond, Howe Sound and the Tantalus and Garibaldi mountain ranges.
On the opposite shore, Third Beach (Stanley Park) reachable from Stanley Park Drive — is fairly secluded, with similarly spec-tacular outlooks.
Those who equate beaches with privacy might seek out the sandy coves of West Vancouver, usually accessible by lane or path from Marine Drive. A few years back, most of these coveted mini-retreats
at or near West Bay, Sandy Cove, Caulfeild Cove, Lighthouse Park, Kew Beach, and Whytecliff Park were marked by concrete signposts at their respective Marine Drive entrances. But some West Van denizens — intent, as always, on keeping out dreaded out-siders — pulled all the posts out. Now you have to find your own way down the defiles and over the rocks, at your relative peril. A friendlier option remains Belcarra Regional Park and beach along Indian Arm (out the Barnet Highway at loco Road) — where you’ll experience still colder water, but a stunning setting on a hot day.
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