Harbour City Highlights
Marine and Outdoor
Sunken Ships to Celebrity Yachts
In February 2005, the Nanaimo Dive Association made local headlines when it sunk the RivTow Lion, a retired deep sea rescue tug, the third vessel in Nanaimo to join the fleet of British Columbia’s world famous artificial reefs. The Rivtow rests at a manageable depth of about 50 feet in Departure Bay, making it a prime dive for beginners. The 366-foot navy destroyer HMCS Saskatchewan was sunk off Nanaimo in June 1997 to create the area’s first artificial diving reef. The Saskatchewan was joined on the ocean floor in October 2001 by the HMCS Cape Breton, a retired Canadian Supply Ship, which is now recognized as the “World's Largest Artificial Upright Reef.”
It’s for good reason that the famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau called the coastal waters of BC, Vancouver Island and Nanaimo, “the best temperate water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea.”
World class scuba diving is just one of the many marine adventures waiting in the sheltered waters of Nanaimo’s working harbour and waterfront. Ocean parks, like Piper’s Lagoon, Departure Bay, Neck Point and Swy-A-Lana, offer beaches for swimming, windsurfing and snorkeling. At Swy-A-Lana, the passenger ferry departs for Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park where more than 15 kilometres of trails wind through forests, historic sites and an inland lake. Boaters flock to Nanaimo’s scenic waters every year using the many moorage facilities, including at Newcastle Island and the Nanaimo Port Authority’s Visiting Vessel Pier. Locals stroll the downtown docks to marvel at the sheer size and luxury of the visiting yachts and sailboats that sometimes arrive with their own crews, on-board helicopter pad or an incognito celebrity or two; (Oprah was rumoured to have sailed these waters last summer in Jimmy Pattison’s yacht). And when the visiting Alaska cruise ships make one of their scheduled stops in Nanaimo the city rolls out the welcome mat with a farmer’s market, entertainers and music at Pioneer Plaza in the harbour.
For more on marine and outdoor activities in Nanaimo, including fresh water lakes and rivers, go to www.tourismnanaimo.com/visitors/outdoor-and-marine-activities.php