I took the City ferry over to the mainland, met them on the street and we made a trip to a nearby grocery store to get provisions. I can no longer move Ananda from her mooring space. All of the marinas in Toronto are now full for the Canada Day and holiday long weekend. Along Hanlans’s Wall boats are beginning to “double park”, or what boaters call “rafting up”. Rafting up is when one boat ties up to another boat to share the same dock or mooring space. This practice is usually limited to friends helping one another out, because the people on the outer boat have to walk over the other boat in order to get on land.
Now that the wall is full, we have decided to stay put for at least another day, because mooring spaces are like parking meters—as soon as you leave a space someone else will make a beeline for it. It was kind of funny watching the same boats slowly motor by again and again, looking for a place to tie up. It reminded me of how we all “troll” for parking spaces at shopping centers during the Christmas shopping season. On top of that, this part of the islands is pretty busy with tourist boats. Toronto has several tourist boats that take people around the harbor and the Toronto Islands. These boats range from “bus-style” that carry 30 or 40 people to large dinner cruisers that hold 200 or more people. They go by very slowly and its kind of fun to see all the people waving and taking photos of all the pleasure craft. Hmmmm, I wonder if those tour boats go on the other side of the island—past the clothing optional beach—perhaps I can take the tour too!