The City of Nanaimo BC

The City of Nanaimo is know as the "Bathtub Capital of the World" because of the unusual race held in the Strait of Georgia each year. Hundreds of people from all over the world climb into bathtubs mounted on planing hulls with six h.p. outboard motors and see who can be the first to cover the course.

Nanaimo has a population of around 79,000 people and is the second largest city on Vancouver Island next to Victoria the Capital of our province, British Columbia.

Nanaimo is situated on the east coast of the island just north of the 49th parallel. There are two well protected deep sea harbours which provide service to many freighters which visit Nanaimo to offload and load cargo. We have recently seen a growing number of cruise ships stopping by on their way to and from Alaska.

Nanaimo was first settled because of the rich coal deposits under most of the area and at one time was a large coal mining centre. Most of Nanaimo is now sitting on top of miles of abandoned mine shafts.

Nanaimo's main industry now is Harmac Pulp Mill and there are still several sawmills operating in the area although our lumber industry has been in a major slump lately. There are also several logging operations within 50 miles of the city.

Nanaimo is also a town of many malls and because of its central location it is a major shopping centre for most of the island.

Two major ferry terminals connect Nanaimo with the mainland. The Departure Bay terminal connects with Horseshoe Bay while the Duke point terminal provides service for most of the trucking to Tsawassen. The trip to the mainland is one hour and thirty-five minutes from Departure Bay and about two hours from Duke point. There is also a small airport about 10 miles south of Nanaimo which provides service to Vancouver International Airport.

Malaspina University College provides post-secondary education for the local students and is situated just several blocks from downtown Nanaimo. For recreation there are three ice rinks, two indoor swimmimg pools, three bowling houses, one curling rink and seven movie theaters in town. Just south of town on the Nanaimo river is a bungy jump over the Nanaimo River.

The closest snow skiing is about one and a half hours north just past Courtneay where there are two mountains, Mount Washington and Forbidden Plateau. Nanaimo has a mild climate where the temperatures in the winter seldom go below freezing and in the summer the highs usually don't go above the low 30s celcius. October and November are usually our rainy months and some years it seems to rain continuously during that time.