Lagoon Report XVIII

Ward's beach in winter, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

The Village

Like an arctic Smurf village, Ward’s beach assumes improbable shapes amidst a February cold snap.

Ward's beach geyser, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Old Faithful

Another Ward’s beach geyser erupts into strong sidelight.  After each session of shooting in -18°C weather, the cameras would be coated in ice and require careful defrosting for several hours near a constant heat source.

Eastern Gap breakwall, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

End of the Road

The breakwall that defines the eastern gap continues to crumble into the inner harbour.  Here a lonely bollard awaits its fate, many of its siblings already lying submerged beneath the icy waters.


Ward's beach geyser, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Embrace

The waning sun catches the rim of a dormant geyser on Ward’s beach.

Ward's beach geyser, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Big Kahuna

All things must pass:  Big Kahuna, the largest geyser to form on Ward’s beach, goes dormant after reaching a height that dwarfed all other ice formations.

Ward's beach geyser, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Sunset Eruption

Like Old Faithful, a newly-formed geyser on Ward’s beach erupts into a million points of light under the full pressure of an incoming wave.


Ward's beach ice cave, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Icefields

A dormant geyser leaves behind a cave large enough to crawl into, here framing early clouds ushering in a low pressure system that should see temperatures rise by almost 15°C.

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, Gibraltar Point, Toronto Islands

Red White and Blue

Amidst a fresh and still undisturbed snowfall, the Gibraltar Point lighthouse stands tall against a cloudless -18°C sky.

Cpt. Tom on the Ongiara, Ward's Island, Toronto Islands

Cpt. Tom

A gem from the archives: it’s January 2004, and the temperature has just plummeted by over 20°C. Plastic shatters, pipes burst, and hydraulic lines fail.  Without hydraulic pressure, the crew of the Ongiara are unable to raise the Ward’s Island dock, effectively trapping the ferry Island-side. For two hours everything was tried, including something enterprising […]


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