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Hot and Hazy: Beaches Pure and Simple (5 photos)

Author explores Tiny's beaches when everyone enjoyed unfettered access

An enduring memory, and one that still refreshes, are dips at all the famous beaches of Tiny Township.

That beach, running from Wasaga all the way beyond the 16th Concession, is one of the longest freshwater beaches in the world. The wind on Nottawasaga Bay lays up beautiful sand all along the beaches. Heard of the Hamptons? This is our version. Collingwood, you know that high-priced place across the bay? All rocky shoreline.

These sand dunes, whether D'Aoust Bay, Cawaja or the 14th, have been silent witness to thousands who have come for sun, for water and for waves. Immersion is what it is all about. Hedonism? No, just kids and families having a whole lot of fun at the beach. Romances were fostered here, marriages consummated watching a Georgian Bay sunset.

There are certain enduring rites of summer to be fulfilled. If it is  getting out of the City, it is madness, but if you are ten minutes down the Balm Beach Road, you are to be envied.

Think of a quiet early June morning mid-week and you are at Cawaja for a swim. Hardly a soul there. Other beaches may need a passport, but often the Tiny parking permit works. We have been going to the beach since the sixties. Come, swim, leave no trace of your being there. Not unreasonable.

If you are at Balm beach, try the Georgian Grill and a burger or The Surf for great food and a patio that looks like the deck of an old ship. Binghams for Fudgesicles, freezies and ice-cream sandwiches. All the basic food groups.

Then cross the road to sit on the sand. Every ten minutes a soak in clear and perfect water.

Paradise is said to be filled with springs and crystal clear pools of water. Are we not here?

 René Hackstetter, June 8, 2021.