Good Ice Fences

Went down to the shores of Lake Ontario this morning. Even though it was only -11C, the bitter wind was making it feel a whole lot worse. The wind chill was -31C.

There were lots of water birds braving it out on the open water and on some of the ice flows, but I'll save those photos for another post (hopefully to join Eileen's Saturday Critters).

All along the pier there is a good solid fence. I believe the fence went up when the town 'beautified' this stretch of waterfront. It does look nice and tidy, and under all that snow there is a concrete walkway with benches and gardens all along. It's a popular spot through spring, summer and fall ... today ... not so much.

A lot of folks come down here and just sit in their cars  at lunchtime parked facing the water (parking lot is to the right of above photo). There is a marina across this little inlet, but the boats are all wrapped in plastic for winter. Don't you wonder what happens to all this plastic when the boats are opened up again in spring? Does anyone know? You can't get into the marina unless you're a member. I don't have a boat ... well, my boat is a canoe, so we don't need membership there.

Through the warmer months we get a few large yachts and sailboats visiting our harbour. It's kind of neat to see them tied up along this pier. The only boats you'll see in the winter are barges and cargo ships far out in deeper waters heading to the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean.

This fence served a good purpose today as a substitute tripod for my camera.

Across this inlet is a long breakwater which gets pounded from the heavy waves. 

The waves weren't all that big today, but they've obviously crashed right over the breakwater throughout the winter, creating quite a masterpiece in places.

I wish I could get over there and get a good look at these amazing ice formations. Looks like something the witch from Narnia would be proud of.

Today I just contented myself with walking along the pier and using my zoom lens. 

The snow was really being whipped across the walkway out to the tiny lighthouse beacon.

Don't worry, I didn't walk along there. 

I wouldn't have wanted to even if this warning (and fence) wasn't blocking my way.

From the tracks in the snow on the other side of the fence, I see someone decided it might be fun to walk along there. A local man lost his footing somewhere along this waterfront last winter and wasn't found until spring. It was a very sad tale that had been a mystery all through the long winter as to the man's fate. You have to be so very careful around ice and water. This is our beach (below). All that portion that looks like rocky shore is thick built-up ice. 

I loved the look of this snow cloud breaking up over the lake with the harsh glare of the sun making the water look like steel.

cold

I'm glad the birds didn't seem to mind. If you think I took a lot of photos of fences, water and ice, wait till you see what I got of birds. I went a little trigger happy with the camera. The noise from the geese was astounding, and such a treat to listen to. The photo below would make you think it was the far north! As I say, I'll share more on Saturday, so stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

a room with a view

Linking up with Good Fences