Western Living Magazine
Protected: Work where it feels like home, say goodbye to the commute
The Ultimate Home Design Guide: Top Designer Tips for Every Room
You’re Invited: WL Design Talks With Trish Knight and Nicole Varga
5 Incredible New Wineries Have Hit the Okanagan
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
The Gin of the Summer (and Fall, Winter, Spring) Is on Sale
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Cycling the Emerald Isle: A Windy Adventure on Ireland’s Greenway
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
Trending Now: 10 New Furniture and Homewares for Fall 2023
Paint Trends 2024: No One Can Agree on the Colour of the Year
Discover California Closets – BC
Q&A: Meet the Texas-Based Contemporary Artist Dan Lam
5 Reasons to Enter the WL Design 25
Introducing Western Living’s 2023 Designers of the Year Award Winners
Indulge in these ocean views this summer.
Which beach? That’s the question we ask on summer days in Nanaimo.
The sweet, small cove near the parking lot at Neck Point is perfect at daybreak. Sure, the morning might be cold and the water dark, but once you get in your skin will turn fiery with nerve endings. Soon the slanting rays of the rising sun will let you see the coloured pebbles and starfish on the ocean floor, and you’ll know you have already aced the day.
Around noon, it’s time to hit Departure Bay Beach, where you can tread choppy water while you watch the ferries nose in and out of the terminal. If you like a little show-off with your cool-down, you can swim to the little dock and demo your glorious belly flops. When you’re done, hit one of the food trucks that line the road above you. Hot tip: get the mini sliders.
On a hot afternoon at low tide, head to Invermere Beach at the base of the Blueback Stairs, all two hundred of them. You’ll have earned every second of bliss when the water comes in over the great expanse of warm sand, leaving you feeling like you’re paddling around in the Mediterranean. Teenagers skimboard in long shallow pools and little kids totter about in their best sun protection finery and you can’t quite believe it’s all real.
Evenings are for Pipers Lagoon, where the water and the south-facing evening sky turn the exact same shade of grey-blue. People are nestled all up and down the beach but there’s plenty of room for everyone. Kids splash just one more somersault before bed and when you look at the driftwood line behind you, you’ll probably spot people kissing in the electric pink glow of the setting sun.
MORE STAYCATIONS: 21 Hidden Places to Hike, Bike, Paddle and Chill in Your Own Backyard
Are you over 18 years of age?