'This is incredible': Visits resume at Peche Island

The first boat ride carrying visitors from Windsor to Peche Island launched at 10 a.m. with Tim Vandendriessche and his family on board.

“We were really excited and I’m glad they're offering the tours again,” Vandendriessche said.

The tour launches with a boat ride from Lakeview Park Marina and is available every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday until October, weather permitting.

Tours begin at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There are a lot of trails, Hiram Walker ruins, viewing points along the water and a boardwalk overlooking marshland.View from Peche Island, Ont., on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor)

Jamie Holly enjoyed her trip with David.

“This is incredible,” she said.

Work was undertaken during the pandemic to make the island safe for visitors. A new viewpoint was created on the southeast side of the island.

“We used to have a viewpoint here but the erosion created a cliff face and it's dangerous for people to walk on,” said tour guide Hannah Ezwawi, who pointed out an area that was occupied by land before being swept into the lake.

The City of Windsor, with the help of the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA), also began work two years ago to help preserve the island.

“We would have been losing significant additional volumes of that land mass through erosion if the city had not intervened,” said ERCA CAO Tim Byrne.

On the south east end work is also being done to help shelter the island from further loss of land.

“That area of the island is exposed to the longest wave fetch and damaging wave conditions in Lake St. Clair,” said Byrne.

Ezwawi brought CTV News Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco to a boardwalk at the marsh that used to extend to the north side of the island at one point.

“Since the water levels are so high we have lost a lot of area on the island,” Ezwawi said.

Water in now flowing freely under the Hiram Walker bridge connecting Lake St. Clair to the Peche Island Marsh. Rocks were also placed on the south side of the island to protect the shoreline and marsh area, which acts like a nursery for wildlife.

“All of the babies of the island, all the wildlife that rely on that marsh area for nesting, for growing older and to be the next generation on the island,” said Ezwawi.

While the work continues, visitors today say they recommend this hidden gem.

“I'm gonna pass the word along. We get to enjoy this,” said Holly.