[EVCco]

Just a friendly reminder that summer is nearing its end and winter will be back before you know it.
So pack your parasol, check those E. coli levels, and wheel your antique Victorian bathing machine down to the lakeshore before there's:

Sunnyside Beach - March, 2005:

Woodbine Beach - February, 2003:

Rouge Beach - March, 2006:

Bluffer's Beach - December, 2002:

Kew Beach - July, 2010:

...let's see some more scenic T.O. beachscapes!

 

[EVCco]

Balmy Beach, looking from the RC Harris Plant towards Ashbridge's Bay - July, 2003

 

[EVCco]

One of the more peculiar "beaches" in the GTA: Lakeside Park, in the far west end of Mississauga.

Just south of a large industrial area, the entire shore is littered with bricks, tiles, and sundry other chunks of terra-cotta refuse. Adding to this charm, the place was (on that day at least) completely infested with garter snakes and thousands of little brown spiders.

Nevertheless, the day I was there I saw people - whole families infact - out there on beach blankets, having picnics, and generally enjoying a "day at the beach."

Two pics from April, 2006...


Looking west:

Looking east:

 

[EVCco]

Western Beaches Watercourse, under construction - March, 2006:

 

[Mustapha]

EVCco,

I like your March 2005 pic; great colours.

Everyone, you only have a few days left to try out our high technology cleansed water beach...

This is just east of the Sunnyside bathing pavilion.

Quite a bit of geese droppings in the area; the whole place smells of it. Something should be done. Humanely of course.

That's the "curtain" out there in the water.

 

[EVCco]

Completely agree about the goose/duck/gull issue. It can make for a rather fowl experience (I know, ).
BTW, are those leaves scattered across the boardwalk in the pic above, or more gifts from our fine feathered friends?


Interested to see how far this enclosure will go to get people in the lake.

I've always marveled at this Toronto phenomenon of numerous, crowded beaches with not a single person out in the water.



...I wonder if the curtain will keep out sharks and poisonous jellyfish too?

 

[Mustapha]

Completely agree about the goose/duck/gull issue. It can make for a rather fowl experience (I know, ).
BTW, are those leaves scattered across the boardwalk in the pic above, or more gifts from our fine feathered friends?


Interested to see how far this enclosure will go to get people in the lake.

I've always marveled at this Toronto phenomenon of numerous, crowded beaches with not a single person out in the water.



...I wonder if the curtain will keep out sharks and poisonous jellyfish too?

Those are leaves; intermixed with droppings. The droppings are in various stages of wet and fresh to powdered dry. I suppose the wind whips it up and we get to breath it all in.

There are so few people out there because of the cold temperature of the water. It's not like a cottage country lake.

That refuse beach picture you posted; could that be the result of some sort of City sanctioned industrial dumping? Someone could injure themselves there.

 

[EVCco]

According to this doc it may have something to do with stabilizing the shoreline:
http://www5.mississauga.ca/rec&parks/pdfs/wfps/draft_lakeside_park_06_06.pdf

Perhaps all that junk is preventing the bank from eroding into the lake?

It certainly is a "uniqu shoreline" in any event.

 

[Gregory Graham]

There are "Blue Flag" beaches in Toronto. My favourite is the Ward's Island beach. The water quality is monitored by the City. The beach is clean and people do swim. Lovely sandy bottom. The water is generally of a temperature acceptable for swimming for most of the summer because the water is shallow and warms up in the sun. I highly recommend it, just don't tell everyone or the place will get too crowded.

The best part is that you just take the ferry to the Island. No need for driving on a crowded, dangerous highway or waiting for a cottage "invite" from propertied friends. Lake Ontario is an incredible body of water and, in my opinion, it is Toronto's principal failing that it has not made the most of this natural asset.