Thursday 1 August 2019

Toronto Islands, Toronto, ON

Gord and I spent the afternoon and evening on Toronto Islands ... it's been many years since I've been there.

The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Toronto Harbour.  On the islands are parkland, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, yacht clubs, Centreville Amusement Park and beaches.


You can get there by ferry or by water taxis.  The ferry is about $9 each return but is jammed and there's usually a line-up.  The water taxi is $10 each and faster ... we've never done it before and have wanted to so that's what we did.

Gord and our driver, Mario
Great views of Toronto from the taxi!

There are three spots they can let you off ... Hanlan's Point, Centre Island or Ward's Island.  We asked to be taken to Hanlan's Point and then we walked to the point.

The islands have been flooded the last couple of years and still are
Tribute to Ned Hanlan
Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a professional in Maple Leaf Park
on Hanlan's Point in 1914

Then we headed towards Centre Island.

One of the paths to the clothing optional beach ...
Another path to the clothing optional beach
The rest are mandatory clothing beaches

There's Gibraltar Point Lighthouse.


To get there, though, we had to get through some flooding on the road.


And there's the lighthouse.  Begun in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes and one of Toronto's oldest buildings.  It was deactivated in 1956.  We did a tour of it in 2012.


Manitou Beach ...

I couldn't resist walking in ... the water was chilly

When we got to Centre Island, we walked on the pier ...


Victor was recolouring the art he'd done in 2015 and chatting with people.


We headed off the pier and walked through the gardens.



We went to Centreville Amusement Park on Centre Island, which is a children's amusement park that has been operating since 1967.

Evidence of flooding

We went on the Sky Ride.  Great views!


Then we walked towards the Centre Island ferry dock.


We had supper at Toronto Island BBQ & Beer Co. and then caught a water taxi back to the city.


It was a fun full day!

1 comment:

Teresa said...

What a great day to be outside. Wow the water levels are high.