Departure Bay
Coordinates: 49°11′31″N 123°57′16″W / 49.192011°N 123.954556°W
Departure Bay is a bay in central Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the east coast of Vancouver Island. The surrounding neighbourhood is also referred to as "Departure Bay"—once a settlement of its own, it was amalgamated into the City of Nanaimo in the 1970s (see the history section).
The bay is framed to the west by Vancouver Island and to the south-east by Newcastle Island, a provincial marine park with a long history of mining, quarrying, herring salteries and tourism. Jesse Island (9 acres or 3.6 hectares) and the smaller Brandon Island are located near the northern shore of the bay. Both islands, though quite small, have varied histories; Brandon Island being notable for a history of Japanese fish canneries and salteries. In 1853 both islands were named after sailors on HMS Virago. Snake Island is a located just outside the mouth of the bay.
The "Departure Bay" neighbourhood surrounds most of the bay; though sometimes the northeastern shoreline may be referred to as "Hammond Bay." The BC Ferry terminal (itself referred to simply as "Departure Bay") is on the southern shore of the bay. The image above-right shows a ferry which has just entered the bay turning towards the terminal.
The earliest settlers in the region were a First Nations group known as the Snuneymuxw. It was reported in 1970 that evidence showed that the area had been inhabited for at least the whole of the last 2000 years relatively consistently.
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