Sandbanks, Lake Ontario

[py26129]

I am looking for some information regarding anchoring at Sandbanks in Lake Ontario. The lake side is very exposed and I am looking for any information that may be available about West Lake. I.e. what depth is available in the lake. Is it possible to get to the Dunes after going into West Lake at Wellington? Can one anchor close to the dunes? We have a sailboat that draws 4.5 feet.

Many thanks in advance

Matt

[sailortjk1]

The Inlet at Westlake looks very shallow from this Areal View.

Westlake Inlet - Ontario, Canada

I have no local or first hand knowledge, but Marinas.com is a very nice tool.

In some of the views of West Lake Marina you can see some sailboats, so it should be possible.
Still looks real shallow from the areal photo's.

West Lake Marina in Ontario, Canada

[killarney_sailor]

Many years ago I got into Wellington with my Hughes 22 with the board up - draft was something like 28 inches and we scraped our way in. There was a very nice government dock inside that we spent the night at and many locals came to see the big boat that was visitting. You could also anchor inside the lagoon - you would have to be careful with depths though.

About five years ago I was visitting Wellington by land and talked to the man who ran the local bait shop. He said that there plans to dredge the channel and build some sort of breakwater to reduce the movement of sand northward across the entrance. I have no idea if this work was done or whether it was successful. I think that you would have to talk to someone who keeps a boat in the area. Dealing with sand is a huge problem. A number of years ago we spend the night of the big power blackout at a little harbour at the extreme northwest corner of Lake Erie (forget the name of it). They had dredged their entrance a month before we were there and lost a foot of depth in a month.

It is a shame that Wellington is not available for people travelling between western Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands. It would provide a nice stopover for those using the Bay of Quinte or going outside.

[py26129]

Thank you both your replies.
Marinas.com is indeed very nice & I have bookmarked it. My understanding is that the entrance to Wellington is dredged annually to a depth of 5+ feet. The recommendation is to call ahead and get an up to date depth status from the bait shop in Wellington.

I guess, once (if) you make it into Wellington, then a reconnaissance trip in the dinghy is called for.

Matt

[Valiente]

A glimmer of hope is that 2007-8s vast meltwater input raised the lake level hugely, and that this summer didn't cost us a lot of that depth, plus the rain since is of record amounts.

Basically, we could go into full drought from May to September and probably still have positive amounts of water. Compare this to October, 2005 when I grounded IN the navigable channel in Presqu'ile Bay leaving the west end of the Murray Canal. That was drawing 5' 10"...I had to use both sail and power to get out of that weed pit.