The Lake Ontario Log goes
south ( all the way to Maryland)
I
promised readers we'd get off the lake in our next article. Last September we
took the good ship Titania, who usually calls Fair Haven her homeport,
down the canal and on to salt water. As far as we know, this is the first our
30 year old boat has ever gotten off Ontario. For a detailed day by day account
of the cruise with lots of photos visit http://www.gateley.net/chpk2000.htm.
There
were a few surprises. I didn't expect the canal to be so scenic or interesting.
And New Jersey and the Chesapeake in late September and October were much
busier than anticipated. The Chesapeake also shows signs of stress from over
fishing and from low density development along its shores. It's lost more of
the underwater vegetation so key to the health of the bay's environment and the
oyster fishery seems to have become all but non-existent. We did our bit to
hasten the extinction of Bay sea life too. We found a great little market in
Baltimore, the Cross Street Market, that had the best fresh shrimp and oysters.
We ate well during our visit to Baltimore. (And during our passage along the
Jersey shore too which included two days in front of the Shrimp Box restaurant.)
This
first trip off the lake which took us just barely south beyond the Mason Dixon
line wetted our appetite to go further. But at the same time, I remain
convinced that Lake Ontario offers fine cruising in its own right, thanks
largely to its Canadian shoreline. Lake Ontario's waters are reasonably
temperate compared, for example, to those of Maine or the Maritimes. There are
still lightly developed areas to anchor or spend a night at a dock in. And
outside of the two month peak season the crowds aren't bad at all in most
locations around the lake. It's true we don't have the interesting and
sometimes spectacular ecology that goes with tidal water. The vast flocks of
shorebirds that at certain seasons mob Delaware Bay, the pelicans and soaring
frigate birds of the tropical waters, the drifting jelly fish, sea lions and
whales of the pacific, and the dolphins of all the coasts I've sailed do make
salt water more interesting. And I dearly wish we had a species of freshwater
flying fish in the lake After all, we have about every other darn type of
marine invertebrate and mollusk showing up in ship ballast in the lakes. Why
not some nice flying fish? They are such a delight.
Lake
Ontario does have its seasonal rhythms and patterns of life, but they aren't
quite as spectacular as those of some saltwater areas. We do have our spring
midge hatch though. That's when in March or April solid objects such as your
just painted boat bottom are blanketed by billions of midges- a gigabyte of
bugs all stuck to your wet boot top or fresh varnish. We have our fish runs of
a sort too in spring- usually suckers bullheads or big brawny brown carp rather
than flashing silver salmon or spring run alewives that crowd into streams to
spawn. And our waters do host respectable migrant bird aggregations, especially
during the winter months.
It's
good to venture out upon wider waters, but it's also good to return to home
waters too. Recently 200 scientists from 50 countries got together to draw up a
list of serious environmental problems facing the world. Four of the top six
they listed related somehow to water or lack of same. It's worth thinking of
that and not taking our sweet water sea for granted. It's simple existence,
after all, is no small marvel.