Boatguide Canada

Exploring Lake Diefenbaker

Story and Photos By Bruce Kemp
 
Too many people simply drive through the vast plains of Southwestern Saskatchewan in a rush to get to Alberta or British Columbia. The reality is they don’t have a clue about what they’re missing – particularly if they have a boat in tow.

Lake Diefenbaker sits an hour north of the TransCanada highway and is quite possibly one of the most beautiful reservoir lakes anywhere in North America. I arrived at Lake Diefenbaker at the end of the summer, excited about exploring new territory...Read More

New PORTS Cruising Guide to Ontario's Trent-Severn Hot Off The Press!

The fully updated PORTS Cruising Guide to The Trent-Severn & Lake Simcoe is hot off the press! With more than 200 new, fully-labelled aerial photos and completely updated marina, restaurant and accommodations listings, it's the most up-to-date and complete guide to Ontario's historic Trent-Severn Waterway available. At just $37.95, the spiral-bound, 216-page guide is a superb value and an even better gift. Look for it at your favourite marine dealer shortly.

PORTS Cruising Guides provide recreational boaters with extensive information on every major marina, lock and landmark in each area they cover. They also offer details on services, shopping and places to eat along the way.  

The new Trent-Severn edition is one of four PORTS titles covering navigable systems in Ontario including Lake Ontario & The Thousand Islands, Georgian Bay, The North Channel & Lake Huron and Rideau Canal and the Lower Ottawa River. The previous Trent-Severn edition was published in 2006.

For more information visit your local dealer or surf to portsbooks.com.

Okanagan Lake - Crystal Waters

By Bruce Kemp

To this day, the Okanagan First Nations people believe a monster, N’ha-a-itk or Ogopogo, lives off Squally Point in the depths of BC’s Okanagan Lake. For most of the summer, however, N’ha-a-itk, seems to go deep and abandon the Okanagan to the thousands of boaters who flock to its crystalline waters every season.

There’s more than enough to see and do around the Okanagan Valley from early spring onward. The lake is a hotbed of marine activity with poker runs, fishing, wakeboarding, waterskiing sailing, swimming, and diving.

Rebirth of the Golden Horseshoe

By Craig Ritchie

As an adolescent I remember reading a newspaper article about an all-new salmon derby being held on Lake Ontario, and being utterly amazed at the idea of fish actually surviving out there. After all, the western end of Lake Ontario, circa 1971, was a far different place than it is today.

I was well acquainted with the lake, as our family home in the west end of Toronto wasn’t all that far from its polluted shores. And in spite of my initial reaction upon reading about the salmon derby, I knew full well that some fish lived in the lake. After all, hundreds of dead ones – small, herring-like things called alewife – washed up on the shoreline every spring, creating quite a stink in the warm May sun. There were very limited facilities for boaters back then – in many ports you would have an easier time finding a place to dock a Great Lakes freighter than a pleasure boat. After all, Canada’s so-called Golden Horseshoe – a reference to the crescent-like shape of the lake’s western end – was a hub of industry in every sense of the word.

Victoria - Not Just a Pretty Face

By Ian Cook

Victoria was meant to be visited by boat. The action is all along the waterfront, so from the moment you arrive and tie up at the dock, you’re right in the thick of it. Forget the old images of Victoria as a quaint, sleepy little town with little to do. “It’s for newlyweds, and nearly-deads. They roll up the sidewalks at night,” was once a way of describing the BC capital. Though that image may have been true at one time, it sure isn’t the case now. Victoria pulses with life, thanks to a superlative waterfront dotted with busy pubs, gourmet restaurants and all sorts of things to do.