Photo: My book,
Glaciers, Bears and Totems, in the Window of Nanaimo Maps and Charts.
Somebody forgot to tell the people of Nanaimo that bookstores are passé. This city of 100,000 has three bookstores; two excellent used bookstores and one new one (the books are new, not the store),
Nanaimo Maps and Charts.. It's about a lot more than charts and well worth a visit. Boaters can buy charts, guidebooks and sailing narratives like Glaciers, Bears and Totems. Then for recreation, they can buy a Stieg Larsson mystery.
There are other things people forgot to tell Nanaimo. They apparently don't know that when malls and boxstores open outside town, the storefronts in downtown are supposed to be vacant, or occupied with tawdry antique stores. But Nanaimo's Commercial St just won an award for the best street in Canada (or something like that). I learned that from reading the Nanaimo paper that apparently hasn't gotten the word that print newspapers are on the way out. It's so popular the library has to keep it behind the desk. The newspaper even writes stories about visiting authors.
Nanaimo has a modern library, a brand new museum, a waterfront promenade, a major park on an island in the bay reachable by a foot ferry, dragon boats out in the bay every night, numerous restaurants and lots of art everywhere. It's a great boating town. I was glad to have an excuse to spend some extra time here.