Cherry Beach kite surfing

Bright kites were in the sky above Cherry Beach as the kite surfers were enjoying the strong winds found down along the lake today.

It's stinking hot - time for Parks Canada Celebration

That's what someone just told me - it's stinking hot out, hot, hot, hot. And I think grab your bathing suit and head down to the sparkling, crisp waters of Lake Ontario. Parks Canada is having their Centennial Celebration on Centre Island today (July 16, 2011) from noon to 8:30pm. For most people heading to the Islands means riding the Toronto Ferries. PS the new Island Ferry ticket booths have been rebuilt, see the photo at top.

You can enjoy concerts starting at 4pm with The Skydiggers, Serena Ryder and Sarah  Harmer.

Also planned are a number of activities including meeting historic characters, take souvenir snapshots, see mascot Parka the Beaver, visit a wetland discovery centre, sit still for face painting or hand tattoos and have a picnic or get some food from vendors. There is plenty of stuff to do on Centre Island - you can also go to Centreville Amusement Park after the celebration and have some more fun.

Lonely Cherry Beach

The past weekend fickle weather kept many away from the beaches of Toronto. At Cherry Beach the line of lifeguards looked out into the empty water, rowboats and flotation devices at the ready. Sadly only birds swam in the cool waters of Lake Ontario.

So, let's take a gander at the weather that is upcoming for the Canada Day long weekend fun. So far they tend to say the weekend will be beautiful, then at the last minute they forecast cool temps and cloudy skies, with more than a little chance of disgustingly large amounts of precipitation. As of right now the forecast calls for sunny and warm temperatures from Thursday to Sunday - except for some rain on Saturday (isolated showers, less than 1mm). 

The beaches should be crowded this weekend but if you want a guarantee of bikinis I suggest you go to the Ms Chin Bikini contest this Saturday, July 2, 2011 at noon in Exhibition Place.

It's the weekend - head to the lake

Toronto is like one big cottage by the lake with tons of family over for the weekend. The walk to the beach can be a bummer though, so drop by the booze store and pick up some libations for later. In the meantime, hook up your waterskiis to the Island Ferry, grab a dingy or sailboat and get your groove on. Forget about up north, it's time for the down south, and thongs, don't forget your thongs.

Swans on the beach

There are a crapload of birds that live along the waterfront - the majority are probably seagulls, followed by ducks and geese. They eat and crap, crap and eat, then have babies - which are incredibly cute, who then crap and eat and have more babies. The big boys of the winged variety in Toronto seem to be the large white swans. The mute swans above are heading towards the CN Tower - I think they have heard of EdgeWalk but they will be disappointed when they find out that the high walk doesn't open until August 1 and the price of admission is $175. There is also a good chance they will be scared of heights.

Silos by the lake

The large agricultural farms of downtown Toronto grow tons and tons of wholesome wheat and that wheat has to be stored somewhere before it is made into Tims bagels and donuts. And I think that the silos that remain along the shores of Lake Ontario is where all the Toronto wheat goes. Sometimes it is difficult to see the farms but I believe that to save precious land for relatively unimportant roadways, the farms are placed on many of the downtown buildings. I often see trees along the edge of the roofline to help the farmer from driving their combine over the edge of the building. I will have to try the CN Tower EdgeWalk to see if I can see the farms and prove my hypothesis.

My initial theory about the silos was that they held nuclear weapons, but in 1983 Toronto became a nuclear weapons-free zone.

MEC Toronto Paddlefest 2011

The annual Mountain Equipment Co-op MEC Toronto Paddlefest returned to Sunnyside Park for their June 11-12, 2011 celebration of small watercraft. Canoes, kayaks, surf boards in brilliant colour filled the beach in preparation of all the paddling that will happen.

Hopefully no one will fall in because the water is probably a little cool still. More pictures after the jump.

There was also a photoshoot going on in the pavilion - at first I thought it might have been a lovely vampire picking out her next victim. 

Toronto Ferry and the Islands

A magical place exists across Toronto's harbour on the Islands that grew up from the sand of the Scarborough Bluffs. The collections of Islands are full of excitement with the Centre Island Centreville Amusement Park, the yachts and other big boats in the marinas and the many beaches (including that clothing optional nude beach known as Hanlan's Point Beach). The Islands are so much fun to roller blade, bike or walk that you forget the fun of riding the ferries that run between the various islands and the City of Toronto Ferry Terminal at Harbourfront's Queens Quay ("half the fun is getting there!). The view of the city's skyline is fabulous.

The ferry service runs from the mainland to Centre Island (in the middle), Hanlan's Point (west) and Ward Island (east) and the adult ticket only costs $6.50 (return included for free!). The ferries run 7 days a week, generally from 30 minutes to an hours between each trip (times are different on the weekends and weekdays). The islands are connected so you can start on one side and travel through to the other side - you can even rent bikes on the islands.

See more pictures after the jump.

Beaches of Toronto

Sunday is just what summer should be - sunny and warm. The blue skies were out to bless everyone with a little kiss of sky and some exposed skin. Early morning sun fought off the fog and later in the morning rising temperatures started to warm up the sand and brought out the sun worshipers to beaches along Lake Ontario. There were also tons of boaters out, including teams of Dragon Boats practicing for a big race. Sunnyside Park has beach volleyball courts set up and there is a large patio which is just perfect for viewing the action.

This sculpture looks exactly like what you find at the bottom of a drain

Parking lots along Lakeshore are easily accessible and if you bring your bike you can travel from site to site to find the perfect combination of sand and beach. See more beaches after the jump.

The inner harbour near Ontario Place

HTO Park

Cherry Beach and their weird beach trees

Beach on Centre Island and wharf below

Entrance to Hanlan's Point clothing optional beach - there was a large turnout at the beach

Cherry Beach in the fog

Cherry Beach was lonely in the early morning spring fog. The lifeguard towers and rescue stations were empty, thongs were still packed away. You could hear the loud squawks of birds that fill the Leslie Street Spit   just across the way.

The leash free dog zone had scattered canines and isolated groups of dog friends, you know friends that get to know each other walking their dogs in the same place at the same time. The bugs are starting to come out but not really biting yet, just large clouds of bugs floating in the air - probably bug friends, you know flying in the same area at the same time, looking for targets to bite and keeping away from birds. Besides the dogs you could find dragon boats practicing for some upcoming races and some kayakers getting in a nice workout.

small droplets of dew gather in a pesky fluffy dandelion

See more of Cherry Beach and Cherry Street after the jump.

Dew filled the early tree growth and their were craploads of yellow snails climbing in the bushes and getting their slime over stuff.