While
just a few of the cruise ships bound for Alaska currently call on Nanaimo,
British Columbia, this delightful harbor-front town is poised to grow as a port
of choice.
Nanaimo
is centrally located on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, almost directly across the Strait of Georgia from the
city of Vancouver. The cruise terminal is able to accommodate even the largest
cruise ships, and passengers step right off the ship into town.
Visitors enjoy the water and mountain views while
strolling on the Nanaimo seawall, which winds along the waterfront. If you
walk far enough, you’ll pass quaint shops, a lighthouse, and the Bastion, the
oldest free-standing Hudson's Bay Company fort in North America. The Bastion now
houses historical exhibits; and, during the summer, the old fort’s cannon is
fired daily at noon. Right next door is the impressive new home of the Nanaimo
Museum, where you can learn about the island’s early history from the
perspectives of First Nations people, European visitors and Chinese immigrants.
The
seawall also leads to Swy-a-lana Lagoon Park, where the saltwater lagoon, full
of sea life, links to the ocean during high tide. A footbridge across the
lagoon leads to Maffeo Sutton Park, which has a great playground, a public
fishing pier, and benches where you can relax and soak in the view.
For
an easy and scenic hike, hop on a ferry to Newcastle Island, a lovely
provincial park. While hiking through the forest or along the coast, you may
come across an old quarry, or some remnants of the fish packing and coal mining
industries that once thrived on the island. Present-day island inhabitants
include unusual albino raccoons, deer, bald eagles, mallards, geese and other
wildlife.
Most
surprising to many first-time visitors is Nanaimo’s reputation as a scuba divers’
paradise. British Columbia is generally acknowledged to have North America’s
finest diving, and the waters off Nanaimo feature artificial reefs, made by
deliberately sunken ships, that have been colonized by sea life. While the cool
water isn’t hospitable to tropical fish or coral, divers can meet up with the
giant Pacific octopus, six-gill sharks, wolf eels and harbor seals as well as
colorful kelp, anemones and sponges.
Ask
Anita, your Cruise Holidays personal cruise expert how you can visit Nanaimo on
a cruise to Alaska or on a ship repositioning cruise.
