What's Next?

After our arrival into Kingston, which marked the end of our Great Lakes Canoeing Expedition, many friends, family and supporters have asked us, “So ... What’s next?” Looking forward to hearing about more adventures, we have been asked if we will continue our route along the American coastline or if we would follow the St. Lawrence and paddle to the sea - all very tempting journeys that we hope to consider in the future.

Although it seems that we have completed our journey, it is far from over. We have learned so much about the Great Lakes over the past 4,000 kilometers and we are passionate to talk to fellow North Americans about the Great Lakes and our journey.

Our hope is to educate and create heightened awareness about the health of the Great Lake's ecosystem through film. So, although we may have to put our paddles down for now to secure some support for video production, we are very much looking forward to the spring and getting back on the water, wherever that may lead.

Seeking the Shelter of a Twisting Bay

At the tip Presqu’ile Provincial Park there is a tall white lighthouse that leads mariners from the open lake into the sheltered waters of Presqu’ile Bay. It was strange to be rounding this point because this was the last time we would be on unsheltered Lake Ontario.

We were about to take a historic route that was carved through the land to provide ships safe passage through the Murray Canal into the Bay of Quinte, thereby avoiding the treacherous waters of the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

Small victories are encouraging as we work toward a goal that has been far on the horizon for 3 years. The remarkably straight course of the Murray Canal delivered us into Trenton. Over the next few days we enjoyed the Bay and shared the waters with a multitude of other boaters as there was a fishing tournament that weekend.

The shelter we expected to find was elusive as the winds that funnel and create interesting sailing conditions often made our progress difficult but the scenery and our sense of impending conclusion drew us forward to see what was around the next bend of the twisting bay.

Journey into the Big Smoke

The old saying that, "you can only truly appreciate what you have until you don’t have it anymore" held true for us as we paddled towards the growing Toronto skyline. We missed the solitude and serenity of the wilderness. As we approached the largest city in Canada and one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes, we were undoubtedly overwhelmed.

Instead of otters, moose and eagles we were now sharing our surroundings with pleasure craft, commercial ferries and ships and...airplanes. The Toronto Island airport was directly to our right as we passed through the western gap into Toronto Harbour, where there is a sizeable section of the harbour that is marked with large white buoys marked with flashy no trespassing warnings.

Being curious, Jon steered the canoe straight toward the no trespassing signs, snuffing my cautions to stay well clear. "What are they going to do? Arrest us!" Jon scoffed at the signs.

Just then, a plane approached the island airport and swooped in near the water surrounding the buoys. Realizing the significance of the buoys, we stayed well clear and as we later found out, if you enter into the restricted zone the water police are dispatched immediately and boater are fined $4,000 with a chance of imprisonment! A pretty serious consequence for the sake of a few paddle strokes.

It turns out that if any vessel is spotted within that area no plane can take off or land creating a jam on the ground and causing planes to circle in the sky above! Needless to say this is one time it was definitely better to play it safe.