Toronto Islands Word of Caution

[szomo.ca]

I'm sure many of you have heard about the drowning off center island. I know alot of visitors here enjoy heading out to the islands and venturing around ...

I would like to mention one thing to folks that frequent the waters and occasionally might choose to get into the water or maybe even take a boat out or even swim.

I'm sure many of you already know this but for those who dont . The lake never heats up temperature wise. Especially outside of the islands .. The only place that heats up is inside the actual harbour being covered by the islands ... The back side is almost freezing and generally never hits warm enough temps to safely swim..

I've ventured around the islands to see if any good spots were available around the outer edges to the south and even in mid summer form the water barely break 50 deg Fahrenheit which is VERY cold... Coinsidently theres no fish out there... Also remember that a south wind generally raises the water level by about 3 - 4 ft easily ...

Stay safe and within the harbour if you must venture into water like wading or swimming. The water is incredibly deep even 20-30 ft away from shore the depths can hit 100 + ft deep. Thus the reason the water is so cold all year ...

[Clive]

Thanks for the advice Martin, I hadn't heard about the drowning.

[Ion66]

I live right on the shore of the lake. At its deepest, Lake Ontario is 246 meters deep. Where I am, Its about 6-12 feet deep for about 500 meters, then drops to 55 feet for about 2km....Then it really drops off. This is where the salmon boats generally fish. The lake does warm up, but takes to July to do it and stays warm till around November. This is near the surface and near the shore however. Dive down a bit and its FREEZING! OK..its near freezing, but still. This time of year (Sept) its fairly warm, and I was swimming out of my kayak this afternoon, about 100 feet from shore. The real trick to the lake is that in May-June, you can have nice warm days, but the water is about 2 celsius. Serious, Ice cream headache temps! Be really careful if fishing from piers in the Spring. South winds dont raise the lake level at all, but they can kick up some big waves very quickly. Also be careful in small boats/canoes etc.

[araret]

yes I've heard about the drowning and it's a very sad story... and its true that the lake barely warms up in the summer.

when Ion66 says it warms up, the water is much less than 65 degrees (which is around 20*C). As a lifeguard, you learn that its unsafe for people to swim in that water because they easily get hypothermia and get tired out, as well as get cramps.

In cold, clear water like Georgian bay (Bruce peninsula) I wear a wet-suit cause diving down there REALLY IS near freezing.

[Clive]

I'm guessing this would be a bad time to link to the hypothermia song...