Nanaimo, BC, on Vancouver Island’s east coast, is renowned for its scenic beauty and strategic location. Mount Benson’s presence and the Nanaimo River estuary offer stunning ocean views. Formerly known as the “Hub City” for its layout, it’s now “The Harbor City,” reflecting its waterfront prominence. Situated 70 miles north of Victoria and 34 miles across the Strait of Georgia from Vancouver., Nanaimo combines natural splendor with urban vitality.
Given it was our last stop on DAY 79 we decided to take a break from packing 8 suitcases full of “stuff” and take a long walk (about 5 miles) along the beautiful waterfront. We saw lots of great boats, seaplanes, and helicopters shuttling tourists from here to there for sightseeing tours. The weather was a welcome 75 degrees and sunny. It felt great after the cold and wet days we experienced in Alaska. Right outside the ship there was a freighter being loaded with logs and it was absolutely fascinating to watch.
Again, we were one of the first cruise ships to come into this port so we were welcomed with the famous Nanaimo Bar – a dessert that was extremely rich (for sure high calorie) and very good. They are apparently famous here in Canada. The city has been instrumental in promoting the dessert. This town was built on coal mining and it was something that most miners had in their lunchboxes going into the mines.
Not much else to report from here other than the packing continues and we will be required to be off the ship tomorrow by 9:00 am when our airport transport arrives to the Vancouver cruise terminal.
We had a lovely evening last night hosted by Seabourn to finish our Grand Voyage. It started with a cocktail reception and photo dump on video and ended with a delicious dinner with the group that we began the cruise with. We have made so many memories along the way. We made friends that I hope we will see again, we heard stories from around the world, we learned so much about cruising and we saw the entire Pacific rim while learning about each city and country we visited. Our captain said that we have cruised 17, 241 nautical miles in our 78 days, as of yesterday. That seems like an awful lot to have accomplished. It was an emotional evening with beautiful scenery outside the ship and it brought home the feeling we started with…immense gratitude. We were able to have an experience such as this with incredible people and luxurious surroundings. We were pampered beyond belief and treated to so many new and exciting destinations. We came, we saw and we conquered. And, now we get to come home to you…our people…the ones we cherish more than anything.
