Trip to Canadian 1000 Islands and Brockville, Ontario
The story “Speed and shadows on the St. Lawrence River” in the October’06 issue of Sport Diver was the first reason for a weekend day trip to 1000 islands area. I never thought that St. Lawrence waterway had such good diving spots until I saw the photos in the magazine. The idea of diving wrecks with a visibility of more than 60 ft was simply thrilling for a person living in the 3 hours proximity of the area. So, before attempting the dive, I wanted to have a first person impression of the dive shop and the people running it. Besides, it was the Canadian thanksgiving weekend so Monday was off and I’d had this urge to test my new car on the 401 since some time now. Knowing that snow is only couple of months away and weatherman forecasting for a sunny day in high 20’s were also convincing reasons.
We took off early in the morning and drove a little bit more than 3 hours till our first stop, Gananoque (Pronounce it as Ghana-nock-way). This is the small town where we took the 3 hour Thousand Islands tour boat. We enjoyed breathtaking views enhanced with the colors of fall and we had plenty of sunshine. I shared some of them in My Photo Gallery.
When the tour was over, we finally drove over to Brockville, 52 km’s norteast of Gananoque along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. It took us less than 5 minutes to locate the Dive Brockville Adventure Centre and couple of minutes later, we were discussing about the dives, equipment and rates with Helene, the very friendly lady who runs the shop. When we left the shop, I was convinced that this would be the place I would spend couple of weekends next summer. Brockville not only has a fantastic dive shop, it also has many places to eat. We were handed out a pamphlet, “Downtown Brockville Restaurant Guide” by the dive shop which listed many good eats within walking distance. Among the many local favorites circled by Helene, we opted for number 12, the Keystorm Pub. At the pub, the menu offered many choices, but we settled for a suggested hamburger which has proven to be the right choice.
On the way back to Toronto, we stopped by Kingston. Apparently, the city has a lot to offer for the history and nature lovers. We got our caffeine load in a local coffee shop on the main street and then off we go, back home to Toronto. Trip back took again around 3 hours with no difficulties. Certainly, it was a pleasant trip done most probably at the last warm weekend day of this year.
And finally about testing my new car, highway driving was a pleasure and occasionally speedy. Later on, I read in the newspaper that, during that weekend, Ontario Police ticketed 5500 drivers for speeding. Luckily, I was not one of them.
Keep discovering and drive safe…
Written by Kaan Bora on October 25th, 2006 with no comments.
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