The impressive 800-seat Port Theatre (125 Front St., 250/754-8550) showcases theater productions, musicals, and music performances by a wide range of artists. The Nanaimo Theatre Group (250/758-7246) presents live performances at the Port Theatre as well as in the Bailey Theatre (2373 Rosstown Rd.).

The best place in Nanaimo for a quiet drink in a relaxing atmosphere is upstairs in the Lighthouse Pub (50 Anchor Way, 250/754-3212), built out over the water in front of downtown. This casual pub gets very busy in summer, with nightly drink specials, a pool table, and a good selection of pub food. For a nautical atmosphere, head over to the Dinghy Dock Marine Pub, moored at Protection Island; ferries depart regularly from Nanaimo Boat Basin.

On the fourth Sunday of every July the waters off Nanaimo are filled with bathtubs for the World Championship Bathtub Race, the grand finale of the annual Nanaimo Marine Festival (250/753-7223, www.bathtubbing.com). Competitors race around a 57-kilometer (36-mile) course in modified bathtubs fitted with 7.5-horsepower outboard motors. The racers are escorted by hundreds of boats of the more regular variety, loaded with people just waiting for the competitors to sink.