Favourite Place of Home #TravelLinkup

I've mentioned it before, the Toronto Islands are one of my most favourite places on earth and luckily for me, it's located conveniently in the place I currently call home. Every summer I purchase a ferry ticket at the Toronto Harbour to cross Lake Ontario and disembark on the shores of Ward's Island, Center Island or Hanlan's Point. I bring friends and family over there to experience the loveliness that is life on the island and am sure to have a meal at the Rectory Cafe. When I visit Toronto Islands, I forget that I'm so close to the city and to my work/life stresses. As soon as I board that ferry, I'm on a mini holiday without a care in the world.

2017 though, has been a tough year for the Toronto Islands. 

First, the family run Toronto Island Bike Rental lost it's bid to provide the rental service to people on the island, after 32 years in business. Thankfully, it doesn't mean an end to rentals on the island, as a new company was set to take over May 1st. 

The heavy rains and high waters that have been affecting many parts of Canada have not spared the islands. The rising waters have covered much of the land and is still rising. Residents on Ward's Island are continually sandbagging in an attempt to keep dry. However, the baseball diamond has been turned over to nature as it sits under a foot of water and carp from the lake have swum inland and started spawning.  

The bike/walking trail on the south side of Toronto Island just west of the Pier. East of the pier was fine due to the elevated break wall. 🙁 #torontoislandflood #torontoislands #torontoisland

A post shared by CVD™ | Chris Van Dyke (@cveedee) on May 31, 2017 at 9:48pm PDT

The ferry boats have been closed to non-residents with a projected opening season only staring July 31st (but this has been pushed back several times already). As you can imagine, this has hurt the island businesses that count on tourists who come in for the day across the lake. The first casualty was announced with the island's Rectory Cafe planning its permanent closure in October. There were several factors that led to this decision one of the owner's said, but the flood has definitely not helped the situation.

It breaks my heart that I probably won't be able to spend a warm summer day there this year, but I know despite the difficulties they are experiencing right now, it will continue to be a Toronto oasis for myself and others, as it has been for centuries.

At the beginning of each month, I like to take part in the monthly travel link up hosted on the incredible blogs by Angie, Emma, Polly and this month's special co-host, Kiwi Footprints. You can join in too by leaving a comment below, checking out other posts on the link up, or adding your own post to the widget now until June 7th.

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