My greatest take away from my trip to Nanaimo, is that the Harbour City isn’t just a docking point and one to simply pass through.
You can actually catch three smaller ferries to three surrounding islands out of downtown Nanaimo. Although, sadly our itinerary only gave us time to stop by the two smaller island, missing out on Gabriola, as the last.
The first and smallest is Protection Island, the ferry for this departs on either ends every 30 minutes from the downtown marina. The same ferry sails back and forth. You wait for the next one in the cabin of a docked ship, this is a waiting room of sorts. All these smaller ferries are first come first serve, but you can be proactive and make a reservation. There isn’t much to the actually island, many travel specifically for Dinghy Dock Pub, where dining in waves your ferry fee.
The pub itself is a tourist site as Canada’s only floating pub and it is open 7 days a week. The ferry docks right outside the pub’s entrance. They don’t take reservations, but have plenty of seating on the patio and inside. The restaurant houses a collection of nautical artifacts from buoys to diver’s masks.
Outside of its location, they serve as your run of the mill neighbourhood bar. So we started with a couple of drinks. I got a classic vodka Caesar with three ounces, celery salt rim, pickled beans, Worcester, Tabasco sauce, and Clamato juice. Nothing remarkable, but complimentary to the meal ahead.
Their Dock Chowder sounded tasty made in house with clams, cod, salmon, potatoes, carrots, and onions. However the soup came out more like a slurry. It was thick, chunky, and had the consistency of oatmeal; instead of a creamy soup to slurp. The flavour was still good as a solid that you could pick up with a fork. However, I envisioned using this like a side and dip for my sandwich below.
We both enjoyed their wings the most. Fried crispy with hard ends to gnaw through, which I do like. They are available in either salt and pepper, hot, dock barbecue, teriyaki, and honey garlic. We went hot sauce with ranch and licked our fingers clean.
The Peach Porchetta sandwich sounded interesting, but there was no peach in sight, nor could we taste any. I was expecting a grilled peach half alongside the spinach, onion, stuffed pork loin, mozzarella, chipotle mayo, bacon, salsa verde, and peppers. All hugged in a hoagie bun, and served with your choice of fries or island queen greens. This was the chef’s favourite dish and I could see the vision. I just needed some acid and freshness in the mix to better balance flavours out. The salad could only do so much as an after thought bite.
The Island Queen greens is mixed greens, shredded carrots, cucumber, red, onions, peppers, and your choice of dressing, and either ranch, Cesar, blue cheese, honey, balsamic, strawberry vinaigrette, citrus, vinaigrette, or ginger soy.
As a more fulsome plate we also got the Blackened salmon served on a Roja Verde risotto. The fish was tender, but I found the risotto a heavy pairing with it. Both felt combative of one another, as strong flavours in their own rights.
We were full after our meal. However, if we weren’t, we could have ventured past the pub and taken advantage of their seasonal gelato stand, pop up. A favourite of the locals and a recent addition to the island. You can either order a scoop out of the truck, or grab an ice cream sandwich or icy bar from their self serve freezer box. They had popular flavours like cookies and cream and more creative ones like pumpkin seed.
Otherwise the island pretty much serves as a national park. Only 350 individuals live on it, travelling via golf carts on dirt roads. There is a playground, picnic tables, and docks to enjoy. And apparently it takes 1 hour to walk across it, end to end.
Our next island adventure was the next day at Saysutchun Island, but better known as Newcastle. The ferry pick up and drop off is at a local park, a little hard to find, but we made it for our reservation. Another quick sail, this time past a sea of anchored ships, got us to this island. No restaurant or ice cream shop, Newcastle serves as a recreational camping spot. So many of the little ferry travellers come with a wagon of supplies. So expect longer load times and limited seating space as a result.
This island was fantastic for the nature and its scenery. We saw purple starfishes, sea lions, and small sea critters in the sands of low tide. We walked the beach gingerly stepping through seaweed, rocks, and crushed shells. Appreciating the water and mountains in the distance. One of the highlights is the striation and dimples of the rock surfaces caused by the ebb and flow of the ocean.
Come to enjoy the park space and water; where you even have the ability to rent bicycles and kayaks to explore the island and its surroundings.
Given how much fun we had on both islands, and how different one was in comparison to the other, I wish we made the time to visit the third and last, Gabriola, as the largest of the three. But I guess that gives me a reason to return sooner than later.
