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With a population of about 73,000, NANAIMO , 113km from Victoria, is Vancouver Island's second biggest city, the terminal for ferries from Horseshoe Bay and Tsawwassen on the mainland, and a watershed between the island's populated southeastern tip and its wilder, more sparsely peopled countryside to the north and west. In BC, only Vancouver and Kelowna are expanding faster. This said, the town is unexceptional, though the setting, as ever in BC, is eye-catching - particularly around the harbour, which bobs with yachts and rusty fishing boats and, if you've come from Victoria, allows the first views across to the big mountains on the mainland. If you are going to stop here, more than likely it'll be for Petroglyph Park or the town's increasingly famous bungee-jumping zone. If not, the Nanaimo Parkway provides a 21-kilometre bypass around the town. Coal first brought white settlers to the region, many of whom made their fortunes here, including the Victorian magnate Robert Dunsmuir , who was given GBP750,000 and almost half the island in return for building the Victoria-Nanaimo railway - an indication of the benefits that could accrue from the British government to those with the pioneering spirit. Five bands of Salish natives originally lived on the site, which they called Sney-ne-mous , or "meeting place", from which the present name derives. It was they who innocently showed the local black rock to Hudson's Bay agents in 1852. The old mines are now closed, and the town's pockets are padded today by forestry, deep-sea fishing, tourism and - most notably - by six deep-water docks and a booming port.
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