Driving in Nanaimo

Daxton Comba | Associate Media Editor
Photo of the score between the raiders and the rebels game

03.29.26
| Vol. 57, No. 6 | Video

This month, Nav videographer Daxton Comba takes us on a tour around Nanaimo with a series of mobile interviews, both island-lifers and newcomers to the city, covering everything from learning how to drive to zipper merging and the ever-growing number of roundabouts in the city. Daxton probes the question of why Nanaimo is a strange city to drive in, while longtime drivers Mikhayla Comba and Corlea MacLachlan comment on their experiences in driving over the years, with Paige Vandop speaking to her experience learning to drive in this ever-changing and irregularly laid out city. Maggie Maclachlan and Paige Vandop also put their navigational skills to the test with a ‘best route’ race, in which each contestant must navigate separate routes to a target destination without breaking any traffic laws.
Daxton Comba standing in front of an ivy-covered wall.

Daxton Comba

Daxtonis a fourth-year Creative Writing student at VIU, a Graphic Designer, physical media hoarder, and filmmaker. He served as Script Editor and Audio/Visual intern forPortal2025, and moved to Acquisitions Editor forPortal2026 while working as videographer forThe Nav. His writing has been published in bothPortalandGOOEYmagazines, and he received the Meadowlarks Award for Fiction in 2025.

A short stage play of his was produced for VIU’s 2025 One-Act Festival, and over the summer he wrote and directed a stage play titled Funeral Cake for the 2026 Nanaimo Fringe Fest. He is now the Associate Media Manager for Vol. 58 atThe Navigator, and insists that he has overcome his fear of ghosts.

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