Toronto - Tall Ship Kajama

http://www.tallshipcruisestoronto.com/

I don't remember for sure how I became aware of the Kajama. It might have been through the Travelocity suggested activities for the area, or something like that. I am a pretty easy mark for boats.

Of course, around any famous water, and Lake Ontario counts, you will have several cruise options. For the Bay of Islands, I wish we had not taken the fast boat tour. For Lake Ontario, I was pretty happy with the Kajama.

The tall ship Kajama is a three-masted schooner that worked as a cargo ship from 1930 to 1998, and was then restored for cruising. It's hard to believe that something that looks so historic is actually so recent, and that you might have seen a three-masted schooner used for cargo in 1997, but that just shows that I don't know very much about shipping.

Sailing does not require as much crew as leaving port, so they asked for a few volunteers with raising the sails, and I helped. I was the only female to volunteer, but at least one of the regular crew was a girl (they were all young college students). Anyway, ship work is not just man's work.

The cruise itself was pretty peaceful. There was one moment where we were kind of close to shore where I could hear music coming from a fairground or something. Actually, it was the Finn Brothers, and I suddenly had a wild thought that what if they were in town, but it appears to have been a recording.

The boat has a lot of character, and if you can go out on one of the Great Lakes you should do it. This is a reasonable option.