French Beach Provincial Park | |
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![]() Photo of driftwood on French Beach | |
Location | Renfrew Land District, British Columbia, Canada |
Nearest city | Victoria, BC |
Coordinates | 48°23′37″N123°56′36″W / 48.39361°N 123.94333°W |
Area | 55 ha. (0.55 km²) |
Established | January 24, 1974 |
Governing body | BC Parks |
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French Beach Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Vancouver Island, between Sooke and Jordan River, British Columbia. The area has a day use parking lot and B.C. provincial campground. It was created in 1980 as the first family-oriented park on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. [1] Situated on the scenic Strait of Juan de Fuca on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island, French Beach Provincial Park offers views of the Strait and the Olympic Mountains. The beach spreads on 1,600-meters and is a location for whale watching as well as spotting Bald eagles, Ospreys and a variety of seabirds.
Mayne Island is a 21-square-kilometre (8.1 sq mi) island in the southern Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia. It is midway between the Lower Mainland of BC and Vancouver Island, and has a population of over 1300. Mount Parke in the south-central heart of the island is its highest peak at 255 metres.
Saltair is an unincorporated community with a population of 2,325 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, or the Georgia Strait. It is a predominantly rural community located between the urban centers of Ladysmith and Chemainus. Saltair is within the Cowichan Valley Regional District. It is home to a number of parks: Stocking Creek Park, Diana, Princess of Wales Wilderness Park, and Saltair Centennial Park. In part, Saltair is a community of artists, scenery and farmland. It provides panoramic ocean and mountain views and a rural ambiance its residents treasure. Community news and updates can be found on Saltair websites. The area is served by the coast-spanning Island Highway and the Island Rail Corridor.
Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada located on southwestern Saltspring Island near Fulford Harbour. The parks faces northwest to Sansum Narrows, which is the channel between Saltspring Island and Vancouver Island. Mount Maxwell Provincial Park lies adjacent to the north.
Bodega Ridge Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is on Galiano Island, which lies between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and comprises 233 hectares. The park's high cliffs are home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and turkey vultures.
Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park located about two nautical miles east of Oak Bay on the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is about one mile (1.6 km) long and one-half mile (0.80 km) wide and looks out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands off BC's South Coast in Canada. It is accessible by BC Ferries from Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island or Tsawwassen on the Mainland. The Island's ferry terminal is at Sturdies Bay, about 6 km (3.7 mi) from Montague.
Saanich Peninsula is located north of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded by Saanich Inlet on the west, Satellite Channel on the north, the small Colburne Passage on the northeast, and Haro Strait on the east. The exact southern boundary of what is referred to as the "Saanich Peninsula" is somewhat fluid in local parlance.
Sandwell Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is a small oceanfront site on Lock Bay, on the northeast shore of Gabriola Island. Hiking, swimming and beach-walking are popular activities here, though it is only accessible at low tide and park facilities are limited. There are also petroglyphs carved into the sandstone boulders on Lock Bay's foreshore.
Spipiyus Provincial Park is a 29.79 square kilometres (11.50 sq mi) provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. The park is north of Halfmoon Bay on the Sechelt Peninsula. It protects pockets of old-growth forest that are habitat for the marbled murrelet.
Maple Bay is a seaside community located in the Cowichan Valley of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. A narrow inlet and surrounded by smooth, pebbled beaches, Maple Bay is home to marine activity all year round. Maple Bay is a small town with a population of 2,640.
Discovery Island is located off the eastern side of Vancouver Island and is viewable from Ten Mile Point, near Cadboro Bay, and Oak Bay. Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park occupies the southern portion of Discovery Island, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Oak Bay. The northern portion of the island is part of Discovery Island Indian Reserve 3, under the control of the Songhees First Nation.
De Courcy Island is one of the Gulf Islands of the coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located between the Pylades and Stuart Channels approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) southeast of Nanaimo and approximately 38 km (24 mi) west of Vancouver.
Valdes Island is one of the Gulf Islands located in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. It is across Porlier Pass from Galiano Island, which lies to the southeast. It has an area of 23 square kilometres, and is 1.6 kilometres wide by 16 kilometres in length. The island is popular with kayakers, boaters and has historically been the site of several human settlements.
Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general aviation. Historically it was a shipbuilding and commercial fishing centre. While the Inner Harbour is fully within the City of Victoria, separating the city's downtown on its east side from the Victoria West neighbourhood, the Upper Harbour serves as the boundary between the City of Victoria and the district municipality of Esquimalt. The inner reaches are also bordered by the district of Saanich and the town of View Royal. Victoria is a federal "public harbour" as defined by Transport Canada. Several port facilities in the harbour are overseen and developed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, however the harbour master's position is with Transport Canada.
Robson Bight is a small Vancouver Island bay at the west end of Johnstone Strait across from West Cracroft Island in British Columbia, Canada that includes a protected killer whale habitat famous for its whale-rubbing beaches. The bight is adjacent to Lower Tsitika River Provincial Park. The nearest access point is Telegraph Cove on the east coast of Northern Vancouver Island.
The Chemainus River is located on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Its source is in the Vancouver Island Ranges, and it flows eastwards to the Strait of Georgia near the town of Chemainus, British Columbia. The valley that surrounds the river additionally includes the communities of Crofton and Westholme as well as the Halalt First Nation Reserve and several smaller reserves. Located on one of the largest islands at the mouth of the river, an old now-deserted village called Xulel-thw stands on the northeast corner; Coast Salish peoples lived there and in other now-deserted villages in the area, constantly moving throughout history.
China Beach is a beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, southeast of the town of Port Renfrew. The name is derived from the former name of Uglow Creek, formerly known as China Creek. The beach was formerly the name of a provincial park, now rescinded. It was amalgamated with two other parks in 1996 to establish Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.
Portland Island is an island of the Southern Gulf Islands of the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Salish Sea west of Moresby Island and off the south tip of Saltspring Island, adjacent to the main BC Ferries route just offshore from the terminal at Swartz Bay at the tip of the Saanich Peninsula. It was named after HMS Portland, the flagship of Rear-Admiral Fairfax Moresby, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Station 1850–1853.
Sansum Narrows is a strait or channel between Vancouver Island (W) and Saltspring Island (E) in the Southern Gulf Islands region of British Columbia, Canada. The narrows are between Maple Bay and Tl’ulpalus.
The Belle Chain Islets, originally simply the Belle Chain are a group of small islands off the north end of Saturna Island on the west side of the Strait of Georgia on the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The Belle Chain Islets are part of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve and are Authorized Access Only except for Lot 65 which is available for day use by boaters and kayakers.