Nickel Beach, Port Colborne, Ontario

Before heading out to beaches, pick more than one in an area to visit just in case one is over crowded or yucky in other ways. Check water safety here: http://geosmartniagara.ca/beachmonitor/ and even though they list Lake Ontario beaches, be aware that Lake Ontario smells very very bad in the summer. We won't swim in it. Smells like rotting fish and algae. They test the water for e. coli, but who knows what else is in it when it lets off that kind of funk!

We went to Lake Erie:
Arrival at Nickel Beach

You've got to park outside the beach and park area unless you wish to pay $13 on weekdays or $18 on weekends for the pleasure of parking on the beach. If you're pulling a boat, beach parking is free. If you park outside the park when you first arrive and wait til after 4 pm, you'll only have to pay $5 to drive onto the beach. It's not a bad idea to do it this way if you plan to swim for 8 hours or so like we did.

Are you wondering about that sign next to the boys up there?

I'm not sure if having "PROTECTING THIS THREATEN SPECIES" in quotation marks means the members of the above-captioned Ministry march out on this beach and stomp on toads or what. The use of quotation marks for emphasis makes me crazy. By the way, what is a threaten species? You can learn more about Fowler's Toad here. (Sheez, you would think they'd get the name right...how about we all chip in so they can hire a proofreader?)

The beach looks lovely. The sand is soft and warm under our feet.


Immediately after picking out our spot, RJ set up this scene. Did he play with it? No. That was it. Just the scene.

We figured out that sitting right where the waves are crashing is FUN! By the way, the water is pristinely clear and quite shallow. No undertow this day. When the depth is to your waist, you can still see the bottom! It was quite nice and clean. The beach also has a canteen and washrooms.

Sissy (my daughter's nickname) sorts seashells by the seashore.
She learned later that there were far more of the spiral-type shells she was sorting for in the dry sand on the beach than in the wet sand of the shoreline. All the white stuff on the ground in front of her is crushed shells. Not fun to walk on. Go around those.

We'd taken along a charcoal grill and barbecued on the beach. We packed fruits and veggies and PBJs because we had both lunch and dinner while we were out. Sadly, the beach closed at 8:00PM, otherwise we would have stayed later and roasted some marshmallows (or as my younger kids call them "hushmellows." I find the term appropriate.)

As the day winds down, the boats leave and the Eastern sky reflects the colours of the sunset.

And what a sunset it was, too!


By the way, Nickel Beach was our second choice. First we arrived at Humberstone Beach (about 15 minutes away from Nickel.) As we neared the beach, a nasty, dank, rotting funk hit our noses. At the beach, we saw what it was:
It is slimy, streaked in red and yellow, and very malodourous. There was no way we were stepping in that funk! It looks like the shoreline is bleeding into the sand. Who knows what kinds of bacteria cause that colouring.



Mind, it looked very promising going in:

Across the street is Humberstone Centennial Park:
It is a 46-acre park with volleyball nets, baseballs diamonds, playgrounds, picnic tables and much more. On another day, we'll stay and visit. On this one, we jumped in the car and headed to Nickel Beach where we were not disappointed!