One of the successes of Ontario’s 40 years of environmental law and enforcement is Toronto’s marvellous waterfront. Yes, I admit that some of the gains are hard to see from land. But a few minutes’ paddle is all it takes to glory in swans and egrets, swallows and terns, cormorants and ducklings and gulls. Huge fish leap in the shallows, churning the water beneath my kayak. Mother geese share babysitting, 22 goslings at a time. Turtles bask on old logs; beavers swim; terns plunge from the sky after fish. This weekend, I even saw two elusive but delightful otters, cavorting beneath an arc of five great blue herons! Otters! in Toronto, at the mouth of the Humber River! No one would have believed it possible in 1971, when the Environmental Protection Act came into force. My friends from other countries are amazed- how very fortunate we are!
If you’re wondering, a second hand plastic kayak costs no more than a bicycle, and gives you the same freedom of the water that a bicycle gives on land.
Meanwhile, we’re off for two weeks, paddling in other places, and will blog again when we get back. Thanks and best wishes