Departure Bay is a beautiful oceanside neighbourhood, a bowl-shaped valley rising from a large beach.

It is a highly desirable area owing to its spectacular ocean views, large swimming beach and park, well-kept homes, and central location. Almost anyone who's been to Nanaimo will be familiar with Departure Bay as the large bay where the ferry arrives from Vancouver. (But the ferry terminal is not in the residential area referred to as Departure Bay - it's in the Brechin Hill neighbourhood.)

There are luxury waterfront houses down by the beach of course, but as you go uphill you'll find different types of neighbourhoods. At the southern end are Cilaire and Beach Estates - then further north is the Lynburn neighbourhood, also notable for its mid-century and higher-end postwar homes. There are some strata buildings close to the beach, and then to the north, the land rises as dark basalt bluffs covered in houses of wood and glass. Sherwood Forest is tucked into here (with streets named Prince John Way, Marion Way, Bowstring Close, Nottingham, etc.).

North of Sherwood Forest there is still a lot of undeveloped land (beautiful undulating lands with arbutus and moss and towering firs and hemlock), with multiple ridges rolling back toward the Hammond Bay area. These ridges are still being developed with beautiful newer custom homes, but a large area has also been preserved as hiking trails and protected lakes.

Amenities are very near with several big malls within a 10 min drive. But even closer are the many beaches and rocky shores, most notably Pipers Lagoon and Neck Point, and of course the long sandy Departure Bay Beach, a popular (but seldom crowded) swimming beach with a playground, grassy lawn, driftwood hide-outs and a coffee shop.

Need help buying or selling in Departure Bay? Contact me.

Condos & Townhomes in Departure Bay

I've compiled all of the building stratas in this neighbourhood and placed them onto the interactive map below. (The map is easier to use on screens larger than a phone.) You can click the pins to see a photo and a link to a page about each strata. The same list of stratas appears below the map, too.

Properties for Sale in Departure Bay

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New Open House
3130 Smugglers Hill Dr, Nanaimo

$925,000

3130 Smugglers Hill Dr, Nanaimo

3 Beds 3 Baths 1,508 SqFt 22,652 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 987944

RE/MAX of Nanaimo

New
2160 Belcarra Pl, Nanaimo

$824,900

2160 Belcarra Pl, Nanaimo

5 Beds 3 Baths 2,532 SqFt 6,534 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 985232

eXp Realty (NA)

New Open House
100 Locksley Pl, Nanaimo

$1,099,000

100 Locksley Pl, Nanaimo

5 Beds 3 Baths 3,274 SqFt 8,712 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 987879

Royal LePage Nanaimo Realty (NanIsHwyN)

New Open House
2590 Holyrood Dr, Nanaimo

$1,325,000

2590 Holyrood Dr, Nanaimo

5 Beds 4 Baths 3,244 SqFt 13,504 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 987672

460 Realty Inc. (NA)

New
3361 Barrington Rd A, Nanaimo

$699,900

3361 Barrington Rd A, Nanaimo

3 Beds 3 Baths 1,802 SqFt 3,921 SqFt Lot Half Duplex MLS® # 987689

RE/MAX of Nanaimo

New Open House
419 Nottingham Dr, Nanaimo

$849,000

419 Nottingham Dr, Nanaimo

3 Beds 2 Baths 1,606 SqFt 8,712 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 987717

RE/MAX of Nanaimo

New
1217 Manzanita Pl 109, Nanaimo

$1,149,000

1217 Manzanita Pl 109, Nanaimo

4 Beds 4 Baths 2,120 SqFt 0 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 987598

RE/MAX Generation (LD)

New
2815 Departure Bay Rd 316, Nanaimo

$399,900

2815 Departure Bay Rd 316, Nanaimo

2 Beds 1 Bath 989 SqFt 0 SqFt Lot Condo Apartment MLS® # 986426

RE/MAX of Nanaimo

New
205 Prince John Way, Nanaimo

$949,000

205 Prince John Way, Nanaimo

3 Beds 3 Baths 2,664 SqFt 12,197 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 986382

eXp Realty (Nan)

1220 Manzanita Pl 102, Nanaimo

$1,275,000

1220 Manzanita Pl 102, Nanaimo

4 Beds 3 Baths 2,535 SqFt 36,155 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 986334

Sutton Group-West Coast Realty (Nan)

1220 Manzanita Pl 101, Nanaimo

$1,250,000

1220 Manzanita Pl 101, Nanaimo

3 Beds 3 Baths 2,365 SqFt 36,155 SqFt Lot Single Family Detached MLS® # 986302

Sutton Group-West Coast Realty (Nan)

3263 Stoney Ridge, Nanaimo

$859,900

3263 Stoney Ridge, Nanaimo

4 Beds 3 Baths 2,012 SqFt 0 SqFt Lot Row/Townhouse MLS® # 985945

RE/MAX of Nanaimo

View of dozens of Departure Bay homes among the trees

Nearby Schools:

  • Rock City Elementary ; 3741 Departure Bay Rd
  • Departure Bay Elementary ; 3004 Departure Bay Rd
  • Cilaire Elementary ; 25 Cilaire Dr
  • Wellington Secondary ; 3135 Mexicana Rd

Did You Know?

The first telephone line in British Columbia was installed here in the 1880s - it ran from the wharves at Departure Bay up to the coal town of Wellington (now part of Nanaimo, between Diver Lake and Long Lake). One of the mining engineers assembled the telephone system based on instructions he saw in a science magazine.

Satellite image showing a map of areas of Departure Bay, Nanaimo

New Developments in Departure Bay

Barrington Heights townhomes

Barrington Heights is a development going back to the 1990s, with newer phases being added sporadically over the decades - the most recent was phase 4, a block of townhomes built in 2022 immediately west of this next phase.

These next phases (5, 6, and 7) will involve 26 townhouse units in 5 quadruplex buildings and 2 triplex buildings. It appears they will be on the north side of a knoll, looking northward, rather than having the south-facing views that many other homes have in this area.

Satellite map showing location of proposed townhome construction site with surrounding landmarks indicated

2545 Doctors Road - Townhomes

This will be a 5-unit townhome strata: 2 duplex buildings and one detached. The development application is approved (DP001238), with the permit expiring in December 2024.

Map showing upcoming (as of 2023) townhome development on Doctors Rd in Nanaimo

Lauren Mary Place Townhomes

(Development application approved early 2023.) This will be a 13-unit townhome development in the Departure Bay neighbourhood, close to the Edgewood strata development off Rock City Road. The topography slopes upward from the street, toward the south, meaning the homes will face northward toward the Linley Valley. It's not clear to me whether the homes will have ocean views.

Each home will have a garage on the lower floor, with two more floors above that. There will be three buildings (4-5 units in each), with one of those being on the west side, separated from the other two blocks by Mariposa Dr, and the other two blocks to the east will have a landscaped space between them, including "play areas" which may indicate that these will be a great choice for families.

Lauren Mary Place townhomes conceptual drawing

Satellite view showing future location of Lauren Mary Place townhomes

Ridgeline of Cottle Place

Status: Pending(?)
These 24 units (duplexes, triplexes and single family homes) will be built on top of a ridge near Pipers Lagoon and Stephenson Point, near the border of Departure Bay and Hammond Bay. The ocean and island views will be spectacular.

I don't know anything about a timeline at this point - an application was made to the city in 2018 and approved, and then it was renewed in 2020; it expires in May 2024.

Ridgeline of Cottle Place development, Nanaimo - location map

1415 Loat St - Rowhomes near the beach

Satellite image showing the area around Loat St and Departure Bay Road, with captions and a polygon showing the planned location of the 1415 Loat St townhomesThe City has been asked to rezone a 0.77-acre property near Departure Bay Beach - about a block from the playground - so that a cluster of brand new townhomes can be built. The developer appears to be Treelife Properties.

There will be 37 units in total, including 10 studio units of just 312-327 sqft each (but it's possible I am mis-reading the building plans). The rest will be 2- or 3-bedroom units, many with their own garages.

If you'd like to be kept in the loop about this development, just contact me and let me know. I'm guessing this one won't be listed for sale until sometime in 2025.

Rendering showing modern rowhomes with a red and ivory colour scheme

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