Sandwell Provincial Park

Entrance Island is a small rocky island in the Strait of Georgia, 841 metres (2,759 ft) due north of Gabriola Island. Marine mammals such as harbour seals and Steller's sea lions use it as a haul-out.

Gabriola Sands Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. The park is located on an isthmus between Taylor Bay and Pilot Bay, and includes the beaches and waters of each. It has a day-use area with a fielded area that can be used for picnicking.

The Cable Bay Trail is a 2 km hiking trail located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The trail has been ranked among the top ten forest walks in the Vancouver Island Region.The trail is accessed via Nicola Road in Cedar. The trail winds down to the oceanfront overlooking Gabriola Island through a coastal Douglas Fir forest, which leads down Joan Point Park, a 23-acre waterfront park which provides a vantage point overlooking Dodds Narrows. Dodds Narrows is a narrow tidal passage separating Vancouver Island from Mudge Island, which flows in opposing directions based on tidal flows. The narrows is a hot spot for marine activity and a popular marine passage between Nanaimo and the Southern Gulf Islands. Passage through Dodds Narrows is described in detail in Margaret Sharcott's 1957 book, Troller's Holiday.The trail also passes through Garry Oak ecosystems, and features in genetic studies of endangered Garry Oak populations.

Mudge Island is one of the Southern Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia, in British Columbia (BC), Canada. It lies between Gabriola Island and Vancouver Island, and is considered part of the De Courcy group of islands. It is about 0.8 km (0.50 mi) wide and 4 km (2.5 mi) long. Dodd Narrows separates Mudge Island from Vancouver Island and False Narrows separates it from Gabriola Island. The northern tip of the island is the southern limit of the Port of Nanaimo and the southern most point of Northumberland Channel. Stuart Channel is south of Mudge Island. The island is named for William Fitzwilliam Mudge, an officer on HMS Plumper under Captain George Henry Richards. Richards surveyed and named many of the islands and other features in the area in 1859. The island has about 60 year-round residents and a summer population of over 200. There is no bridge or ferry service to Mudge Island, but there is a private marina called Moonshine Cove. The island's development is entirely residential, although some residents run businesses out of their homes. There are several dirt roads connecting the residences. The island has full electric, telephone, and cable television service, unique among the smaller De Courcy Islands.

HMCS Cape Breton was a Royal Canadian Navy Cape-class maintenance ship. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Flamborough Head in 1944, she was transferred in 1952. Upon her commissioning she was the second ship to bear the name Cape Breton. She served operationally from 1953–1964, when she was laid up. She was used as a floating machine shop until the late-1990s, before being sold for use as an artificial reef off the coast of British Columbia.

HMCS Saskatchewan was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the second Canadian naval unit to bear the name HMCS Saskatchewan. The ship was named for the Saskatchewan River which runs from Saskatchewan to Manitoba in Canada. Entering service in 1963, she was mainly used as a training ship on the west coast. She was decommissioned in 1994 and sold for use as an artificial reef. She was sunk as such in June 1997 off British Columbia.

Duke Point is a geographical location in the extreme southeastern part of the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. It is located on a thin peninsula to the east of the Nanaimo River estuary, just across the Northumberland Channel from Gabriola Island. An industrial park is located at Duke Point, which includes one sawmill. The Duke Point ferry terminal is also located here, but there are no public transit connections.

Snake Island is a small, uninhabited, rocky island northeast of Nanaimo. It is a minor member of the large group of islands east of southern Vancouver Island called the Gulf Islands. It is a bird sanctuary, and home to a colony of harbour seals. The island is a frequent destination for local wildlife tours, and the rocky shores and reefs around the island are popular with divers. Local seals have become accustomed to divers in the water, and will interact with them. Snake Island is near the site of the artificial reef created by the sinking of HMCS Cape Breton, a Second World War Victory ship. The vessel was acquired and prepared by the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia.

Hemer Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of Nanaimo.

Gabriola Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia (BC), Canada. It is about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, to which it is linked by a 20-minute ferry service. It has a land area of about 57.6 square kilometres (22.2 sq mi) and a resident population of 4,500.Gabriola has public beaches and forests, shopping centres, restaurants, a library, an elementary school and a museum. It is known as the Isle of the Arts due to its high percentage of working artists, and its many cultural events include annual festivals related to art, poetry, gardens, music, boating and fishing. The Gabriola Arts Council produces three large annual events: the Isle of the Arts Festival (April), Gabriola Theatre Festival (now defunct) and Thanksgiving Studio Tour (October).

Nanaimo River is a river on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located near the city of Nanaimo on the island's east coast. Its headwaters are in the Vancouver Island Ranges of central Vancouver Island and its mouth, the Nanaimo River estuary, is at the south end of Nanaimo Harbour in the Strait of Georgia. The estuary is part of the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program. The river and its drainage basin contain a wide range of industrial and recreational activities. Logging and coal mining were a couple of the earliest industrial operations. While coal mining ceased in the first half of the 20th century, logging continues to be important. Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park is one of the few places left near the river that links to the region's coal mining history. Due to the lack of arable land, agriculture never became an important industry. In 1931, South Fork Dam was built upstream on the South Nanaimo River to supply water to the city of Nanaimo. In 1974, an additional dam and reservoir were built farther upstream on a tributary of the South Nanaimo River to increase the water supply for the city. In 2000, the South Fork Dam was upgraded to produce Hydroelectricity. Two major highways cross the river. The Trans-Canada Highway crosses the river just north of Cassidy and farther downstream Highway 19 crosses on the north side of Cedar. At the point where the Trans-Canada Highway crosses the river, the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway also crosses it. On the east side of Cassidy, just of the south bank of a major tributary of the river, Haslam Creek, is the Nanaimo AirportAll along the river, and throughout its watershed, there are plenty of lakes and recreational opportunities, including boating, camping, hiking, bungee jumping, and rock climbing. There are still pockets of old growth forest left within easy access to the public, such as at the Nanaimo River Regional Park.

Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park is a 4-hectare (9.9-acre) historic provincial park near the east coast of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The location off BC Highway 19 is about 102 kilometres (63 mi) by road northwest of Victoria, and 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Nanaimo.