Gary's and Toni's Excellent Island Adventures

Neck Point Park

If you have perused much of our website, you’ll have recognized that Nanaimo is a pretty amazing place in which to live. One of the best things about Nanaimo is its system of parks and trails. Whether you are a toddler looking for an endless play structure or a peak condition athlete looking for a challenging run, you can find it here. (And did we mention the free part?) We haven’t met a park or trail yet that we haven’t liked, but our favourite, and that of many Nanaimoites, is Neck Point Park. Whatever your mood, whatever the weather (except during wind warnings when trees could fall on you!), Neck Point is an ideal destination to recharge the body and soul.

Neck Point is a 14.5 hectare park situated sort of on the northeast corner of the city, projecting out into the Strait of Georgia such that ocean surrounds three sides of the park. (To get a better idea of the terrain and for a virtual tour, check out Parks & Trails on the city website.) The perimeter features four beaches connected with rocky cliffs and lookouts and the interior is wooded with some old-growth trees. Trails criss-cross the park so you can choose your terrain and views to suit your mood. Depending on the weather, the season, and the tide, you can walk, run, bike, swim, dive, rock climb, bird watch, beach comb, picnic, watch the cruise ships, check out the tide pools, watch the sun rise, watch the sunset, or even get married there!

We probably like Neck Point best to decompress after a busy day. You shelve your problems and let the sights, smells and sounds of nature soothe your mind and body.

You can never predict what your visit will be like. We live about a ten-minute drive from the park, and yet we can’t even tell what the weather will be before we get out on the actual trail. There can be waves crashing on one beach and gently lapping the shore on another one. You need your fleece to keep you cozy on the open heights, but then have to take it off when you’re wandering through the woods. The Coastal Mountains across the Strait can be in-your-face huge with startling white snowcaps on one day and completely invisible another day. day

On the Wild Side (Neck Point Wildlife)

Wildlife sightings are always a part of Neck Point. The general rule of thumb of course is that there will be more interesting creatures on days when you have forgotten the binoculars. We usually see bald eagles, and there are some nests in the park. Occasionally a couple eagles will be chowing down on some salmon out on the rock islands – quite close for viewing but comfortably apart from humans. Other larger birds there include pileated woodpeckers and great blue herons. We love the variety of ducks. Our favourites are harlequin ducks with the drakes’ distinctive black, chestnut and white markings. We have seen harbour seals and glimpsed sea otters (a non-binocular day), but no whales to date. Our most startling wildlife encounter came when we had just turned to leave the little beach that comprises the “neck” of Neck Point to climb to higher ground, and a male stellar sea lion surfaced on the beach. That’s about 2000 pounds or 1 metric tonne of wildlife! It would be akin to walking through a field, hearing an animal behind you, and turning to discover a buffalo!

Recently my sister, Sherry, visited us from Ontario. Although she is quite familiar with Victoria, this was her first trip to Nanaimo. We tried to cram about a zillion things into two days. We had been raving about Neck Point but hadn’t managed to fit it into our schedule. The morning she was leaving, we suggested taking a quick scoot over there. We reassured her we could get there, do our normal circuit, and be back in plenty of time to leave for the airport, so off we headed. We had repeatedly bragged about the wildlife sightings and how we never knew what we would see on a given day. As we were approaching the park along Hammond Bay Road, Sherry and I noticed that Gary kept looking in his rear view mirror. Finally he confided in us, “I’ve been watching this car that’s right behind us. It’s a Jag. The driver has long blonde hair and dark glasses. I’m pretty sure it’s Diana Krall.” (Given that she and her husband, Elvis Costello, have a home about ten minutes north of where we were and her dad lives about five minutes south off there and Hammond Bay Road would be the most logical route to take in between, it likely was Ms Krall.) A new high point in our Neck Point Sightings!

Along the trail, there are several benches with memorial plaques. The one that touches us most is on a lookout on the north side of the park The bench sits on a high platform with forest behind it, and in front of it just a few windswept trees, then rocky ground dropping away to the ocean below, with stunning views of the Winchelsea Islands. The information on the plaque ends with the epitaph “larrywuddalikedit”. We know Sherry certainly did.

Gary and Toni