Our good friend Johnny and Alison introduced us to Rocky Point Park last year, and we’ve come back several times since. It’s a great family-oriented park with a large grassy field, a spray park, a Pajo’s fish and chips semi-outdoor food stand, a full service Boathouse restaurant, and a very good walking trail. Most importantly, the water is very calm here and it’s fairly easy to launch a paddleboard.
Having said that, there are a few things to keep in mind about paddling at Rocky Point. First of all, the inlet gets very shallow, and the water can be fairly far from shore at low tide. Secondly, there is a busy public boat ramp right at this park. This means there are basically two options to launch and take out a paddleboard: through slippery mudflats that also acts like quicksand with sharp barnacle-covered rocks, or next to trucks with trailers launching or pulling out their motor boats.
Regardless, there are still a lot of paddleboarders, kayakers, and canoeists here. No swimmers though.
Even though the water in the inlet is very calm, it can have little tiny waves. It’s a perfect next-step for leveling up from a small lake like Sasamat Lake, Rolley Lake, Alice Lake, or Deer Lake. In our first session, I spent 10-20 minutes paddling on my knees with Junior to build both of our confidence.
In May 2020, we went back to Rocky Point to start our summer paddling season.
To wrap up our 2020 summer season, we came back to Rocky Point again. Tina and the boys hit the Shoreline Trail whereas I took an hour to paddle around.
To avoid the boat traffic coming off the boat ramp, I headed north to explore the multi-million dollar ocean front mansions. Many of these houses have a private dock and boat. I imagined what it would be like to live in a waterfront house. I might start paddling twice a day.
- Difficulty – easy, with occasional waves especially from motorboats
- Boat traffic – frequent motor boats, mostly keeping to the south side of the inlet
- View – nice mix of distant mountains and shoreline houses
- Facilities – flush toilet, food options, lots of activities onshore in Rocky Point Park
- Overall score – 8/10
Burrard Inlet/Indian Arm Series:
3 responses to “Rocky Point Paddle”
[…] After a nice breezy stroll on the jetty, you can also follow the path down to the beach area where you can do several paddling sports here. There is also a boat launch site by the jetty used for motorized boats. For more on paddling here, check out Billy’s post here. […]
[…] covered Rocky Point before, both as a great family-friendly park as well as one of our go-to paddling spots. We came back to enjoy some fall foliage and finish the Shoreline […]
[…] some of the most protected ocean waters in Metro Vancouver, Rocky Point Park provides access to the inner most corner of Burrard Inlet. I recommend launching from the paved […]