Cobourg Sunset

Whenever we travel to or from the Thousand Islands, the marina at Cobourg is a much-anticipated destination.

Leaving Toronto, it’s the welcome termination of the first arduous day of eastbound sailing.

And travelling west to Cobourg at summer’s end, the trip seems just as long and tiring. 

So it’s a very good thing that Cobourg is a healthy small town, with lovely scenery, a vibrant downtown, and good restaurants!

Flying the drone there, over a couple of days in September, I was able to photograph some of its special waterfront features.

In this shot, taken as the sun descended, there’s a lovely lakeside trail in the distance. Closer in, you can see the marina basin, its waters calm and safe, well-protected on every side. Second Wind is tied up at the furthest dock.

And in the foreground, flanked by mobile homes, there’s a great beach that attracts hundreds of people every summer day. (Visiting with our grandson a few years ago, standing on the sand in the evening with hundreds of others, we watched a movie projected onto a giant screen.)

And there are seagulls.

As this day ends, the air is vibrant with them, all engaged in excited aerobatics. Soaring, diving, twisting. Maybe a last chance to stretch their wings, or search for fish, before the fall of darkness.

The setting sun reflects off the underside of their wings. And behind them, in serene contrast, the waxing gibbous moon is slowly ascending from its rest below the southern horizon.

Back on land, the waterfront offers an opportunity for a delightful stroll, past an ecology garden run by volunteers, along an extensive boardwalk. 

Just off the boardwalk lies the pebble beach where a few trees have forced their roots down into the gravel. This one reaches toward the camera directly above, its shape and colour contrasting with the recumbent remains of trees long expired.

Having taken that photograph, I decided to re-position the drone to photograph your correspondent.

This is less a portrait, I think, than a study in patterns – the varied colours of the gravel beach, the bright white of the technology, and the inevitable bald head.

Over at the sand beach, as the day ends, a few hardy folks are still enjoying the sand and water.

In the harbour, sailors who enjoyed a brisk dance on the lake, are motoring back to their docks.

And the crews of a couple of dragon boats are exercising their enthusiasm and discipline. It won’t be long before it’s too cold to enjoy being out on the water like this.

Meanwhile, the gulls are settling for the day. Though the crowds of people are gone from the sand for the season, a few hardy souls still brave the growing chill in the air.

And the shadows are getting longer as the sun dips toward the horizon.

Now an intriguing pattern has emerged on the sand. Dark shadow exclamation marks dominate the white dots that represent a gull standing on the sand.

Not long before Cobourg will sleep.

Come morning, I’ll untie the boat, exit the sheltered harbour, and point Second Wind toward Toronto, a long sail ahead on Lake Ontario. A lovely summer is coming to an end, a bracing autumn is on its way.

PS I haven’t posted to this blog for months, largely because in winter/spring I didn’t feel comfortable taking the drone out. Covid19 meant that I simply ran out of fresh material.

And once I did start flying again this summer, I was too distracted to write.

But now, with fall upon us, and lots of images available from the summer, I’m looking forward to sending you blogs more frequently. I hope they’ll give you some joy.

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