Courtesy of AirCanadaCentre: http://bronteshore.ca/c/c15e2bc7e61cffb5c21def83365cd8d6 |
We pulled the anchor, moved east to the water in front of the bleachers and settled in there. It took about an hour, but we were hailed by a friendly Toronto Police boat. They let us know that we could not anchor anywhere, but we could tie up along a seawall at the far west end of Long Pond along Blockhouse Bay. The policemen were very cordial and kind which made the pill of moving again quite easy to swallow.
This time we slowly motored west, then north throughout all
of Blockhouse Bay, but did not recognize the seawall described by the
Police. They did confirm that there was
a cost to tying up, so it didn't matter to us whether we tied up along the
illusive seawall or at one of the yacht clubs or marinas. We had noticed a sign saying that Island
Yacht Club (IYC) on Mugg's Island (the eastern shore of Blockhouse Bay) had
slips available, so we maneuvered into an open slip. While Jack & Jim secured Kelly, I went
looking for a harbormaster. She happened
to be eating her dinner on the clubhouse deck, so Katrina was easy to locate. She confirmed that we could stay for one or
several days and that the rate was $1.75 per foot. The rate seemed reasonable, given that we were
at a nice private club in a big city and we had no reciprocal privileges. Also, it was only .$25 more than the seawall
we finally saw. Katrina pointed across
the small bay and we could just make out a wooden seawall. It had seemed to be a mud bank when we sailed
by earlier, so we never recognized it.
We had some logistics to resolve, specifically, that Jack,
Jim & I all had to connect with various transportation centers at one time
or another over the coming weekend.
Early Friday morning I had to get to Toronto's Pearson International
Airport so I could attend my 35th Wabash College Reunion.
Toronto View from IYC Slip at Mugg's Island |
Jack had to catch a bus to Erie mid morning on Friday, while Jim was planning to go home via bus to Erie on Monday, June 6. Since the Island Yacht Club is completely isolated on Mugg's Island, the only way ashore is on our dinghy or the club's tender. The tender proved to be a great way to get to and from downtown, but the schedule wouldn't enable any of us to make our travel connections.
IYC proved to be very nice, so we decided to stay put
through Wednesday, while we used the club's tender to play tourist in
Toronto. We also enjoyed their clean
facilities for showers and laundry.
Unfortunately their clubhouse wasn't fully open for the season, so we
didn't get any meals at IYC.
While playing tourist, we visited a number of interesting
venues including the Hockey Hall of Fame, Fort York, Pier 4 (fancy restaurant
on the waterfront), the Music Garden, streetcars, and the CN Tower. Since we were taking the water taxi from the
IYC to town and back, we felt very nautical!
Kelly IV Crew at Marina Quay West |
At 4:30am I caught a car to the airport and enjoyed a
terrific reunion with 30+ classmates from 1976.
I even got to stay with a former roommate from the class of '77, since
he lives in C'ville. It was all over
much too quickly and I found myself checking into my return flight at 7am bound
from Indianapolis to Philly and finally back to Toronto. Since I arrived Sunday midday, I was able to
take public transportation, including a streetcar all the way to the
marina. While the car on Friday morning
was a bit pricey, the public transit was only $3 for the entire trip from the
airport, so the cost, on average, was very reasonable.
Jack caught his bus and arrived safely at home in time to
email me several photos which I'll share with you as soon as I get a good
WiFi/internet connection. Jim stayed
through the weekend, so he and I got to share a couple more meals together. Then early Monday morning, Jim caught his cab
to the bus station for the return trip to Erie, where he had left his
truck. As I write this, I expect Jim is
already well on his drive from Erie back to his home.
Meanwhile, I had loaded new waypoints and routes into the
GPS/Chartplotter, so I was ready to slip the lines. Since there was no breeze, the trip was a
simple motoring along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. While there was some occasional haze, the
visibility seemed to be at least a mile and was often over 3 miles, as I could
see land most of the trip and the shore was 3 – 5 miles away.
There were no freighters observed on this leg, but there
were a few sailboats, so I'm still getting good practice understanding the
little blips on the radar screen. I
radioed the Port Whitby Marina for a
Port Whitby |
No comments:
Post a Comment