Lake Ontario, ON

My Watermark is Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario is my place. It’s actually the first lake I ever saw when I arrived in Canada. I was amazed by the size, by everything around it. It matters to me. I needed the water, and that was the first water I saw.

I was able to step in the water all year round. We use it a lot in many ways. We do a lot of walking, trail walking, we swim, we stand-up paddle, we surf, we don’t boat (we wish!), but we use it quite a bit.

I have a good story stuck in my memory. It’s the first winter in Lake Ontario. That was the winter 2009 to winter 2010. This was the first time surfing in the winter and in the Great Lakes, and I didn’t know what to expect. I know people were telling me that it was going to be cold, and I showed up in mid-January, and it was partly frozen, but I was able to see the beauty of the lake in a different way and different perspective. Ice everywhere. Being able to see the water, feel it, it was something I had never experienced before, like 2-3 degrees water. I was surfing in Bluffer's Park in Scarborough. It was pretty unreal. The waves were about 3-4 feet. It was a very lonely day because I skipped work and went early in the morning and I was the only one there. I was just like “wow!”. I lay down on the ice and just started thinking and took a moment of my life to reflect and see how lucky I am to be in such a place at that moment.