I have been in Toronto Canada for the last few weeks on a business trip. While its been fun, I have missed paddling with CKF. But Toronto is right on Lake Ontario and last week I scoped out the lake front for a place to rent a kayak and some paddling destinations. This wasn't terribly difficult since there is only one place to rent a kayak in Toronto, and the only real destination that I could see was Toronto Island.

The area is a mostly undeveloped peninsula and Island about half a mile off the shoreline of downtown Toronto. The Island is home to many canals and inlets and with the exception of a small kiddy amusement park it is mostly undeveloped. The heavily wooded shoreline looked like it might make for some good kayaking

At 9:00am Sunday I rented my kayak and launched for my short trip across the bay. The water was smooth, and it was easy going to get across the channel. Once across I quickly spotted a long channel to head into. The channel seemed to go forever and didn't appear to go anywhere. With the thick trees and shrubbery I quickly forgot that Toronto was less that half a mile off my stern. The thick visitation made a perfect home for birds, most notably ducks, Canadian Geese and even a number of white swans. As popular as the island was with birds, it was even more popular boaters looking for a quick weekend getaway. The inlets and cannels were lined with docks and moors filled with people camping on their boats. However, this did seem to take away any of the natural beauty of the heavily forested coastline. Basically I spent about 3 hours exploring inlets and cannels. By then it was time head back to Toronto. The trip back wasn't any more eventful than the trip over. But Toronto's impressive skyline made for great site seeing on the way back.

It was a nice change of pace from my normal paddles with the hull crackers, boat benders and boat destroyers in CKF. No huge surf to launch and land in. No huge whales to worry about, or heavy seas and high winds to contend with. Just a leisurely paddle. However there is nothing better than paddling with the regulars at CKF and looking for adventure on coastline of So Cal.

    Dave O'Connor