Underwater

Typically by this point in the summer, I would've had at least two visits to the Toronto Islands. Alas, due to this year's heavy rainfall and flooding, the Toronto Islands remained largely closed to the public, and are set to reopen on Monday.

Keen to check out the state of one of my favourite getaway spots in the city, the kids and I made the trek over to the Island on Friday after work, for dinner and a swim.

Never saw such an empty ferry!

Although a large sign at the ferry terminal proclaims "due to high water levels and flooding, the island is closed", some advanced sleuthing had led me to understand that if one indicated one's intend to visit a local business, one could get onto the Wards Island ferry. We therefore announced that we had reservations at the Rectory Café, successfully grabbed our tickets, and were ushered aboard the just-about-to depart boat.

I've never seen the ferry so empty, especially on a warm summer evening, and it was strangely indicative of what we would see on arrival at the other side.

The sights that greeted us when we disembarked at Wards were quite telling; from the ferry dock onward, massive sandbags lined the island's perimeter, and all along the edges of pathways stood puddles and general muck and mire.

If this state of affairs was "almost ready to reopen" I can't possibly imagine what it must've been like here a month ago! And to be honest, I worry about what will happen to the delicate landscape when bombarded by an onslaught of eager tourists next week:  A few folks sneaking across the water to supplement the careful and committed residents is one thing, but the approximately 20 000 daily visitors that the island typically hosts in summer is going to test the still-saturated land, that's for sure.

(click any image to enlarge)

Happily for us, both restaurants on the island were open as promised, and we began our evening at the wet park with dinner at the Wards Island Café.

We found our favourite table unoccupied, and devoured double orders of mac & cheese for the boys, a veggie burger for me and a good sized salad for the three of us to share.

Dinner having been taken care of, it was off to Algonquin, to see how the residents there had been impacted by the flooding.  After a quick stop at the Rectory to use the washroom and to check out some cool 1917 photos of the island when it was  still "tent city", over the bridge we went, and down the main "road" there, to the waterfront...

Sure enough, the sandbags were ubiquitous here as well, and provided an ominous foreground for the classic city-view shot from this angle of the island.

The boys insisted we go for a swim, so we crossed back over the bridge towards the Wards Island Beach, but not before stopping once more at the Rectory Café so that I could pick up a tea and some dessert to go!

Along the way, we saw a cat resting on top of a fence.

The beach was quite something, or rather, it was quite something missing! Gone was the reasonably expansive stretch of white sand, and in its place, a much-compacted little beach with water reaching well past one of the lifeguard chairs and several signs, and up to the tall grasses and trees usually described as "towards the far back of the beach"!

I must say that one thing I enjoyed about our visit overall was the fact that there were virtually no tourists. The locals of course were around, but none of the many cityfolk that overcrowd the island on a usual summer's day were here. With the exception of one other couple, we were the only people on the beach.

It was nice to have the islands to ourselves in some sense.

Although the lake was a bit chilly, the boys were determined to swim, but not before having a good climb over one of the lifeguard towers!

As the boys stripped down to their underwear, I hoisted myself up onto the lifeguard chair and sat back to enjoy the view while sipping my tea and tucking into my still-warm caramel walnut blondie.

Before they jumped into the water, Simon and Alex insisted on doing a little pole dance for me in their underwear, loudly exclaiming, "look, Mom, we're strippers!" (Yet another reason to be thankful for the empty beach, lol!)

But soon they were in the water, and I was amazed at how undeterred they seemed by the cooler temperatures of a not-yet-warmed-up Lake Ontario.

After our swim, we walked back to the Ward's Island Cafe, and sat for a bit near the stage, where we could hear the smooth tunes emanating from the live Jazz band that had started their set since we'd abandoned our dinner table for the beach.

By 8:25, our 8-o-clock ferry had still not arrived, and indeed could still be seen cityside.  So we decided to splurge on a water taxi to carry us quickly back to the busy downtown core.  Ahead of us, a beautiful sunset over the Toronto Skyline; behind us, a peaceful, lush, green, somewhat water-logged island.

I feel better already for having spent the evening there, and can't wait to make at least another trip over later this summer!

Toronto skyline view from the back (front?) of the water taxi