Bay of Quinte, ON - Pat Sturgeon
My Watermark is Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario.
Every year we used to go through the 1000 islands, and I would go through the Bay of Quinte. We would stop and anchor our boat, at a place called Grassy Point near Belleville. We would stop, spend the night, swim and enjoy the water.
The last few years, we haven’t been able to swim and enjoy the water because of all the algae. Since then, we have not been stopping at Grassy Point, and have sailed straight on to the 1000 islands. I am hoping some day that the Bay of Quinte will be a place where we can one day swim again.
Everyone that swims, sails or has cottages in that area are under the same scenario. They do sail more, but no one is really swimming and enjoying the water as they used to. It is getting better when you get towards the Kingston area where the river is flowing but there certainly is an area where the water is not moving and they haven’t been doing enough work to get the algae out.
I have been sailing all over the world, and there are some great bodies of water in Ontario. I think the North channel is the nicest place in the world to sail; the top 10 cruising ground in the world, and I hope it stays that way.