Sandbanks Provincial Park - Lake Ontario Beach

Prince Edward, Ontario

Ontario Parks' free PFD Lending Program helps keep you safe on the water. Ask staff about it today!

Welcome to two of the largest freshwater baymouth sandbars in the world. The Park offers overnight camping, as well as long stretches of sandy beaches. This sensitive dune ecosystem is very rare and truly spectacular. In the middle of summer, the campground and the beach are nearly always packed with people so be sure to book your sites early.

No lifeguards, water safety is your responsibility. Life Jacket Lending Program available.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is essential right now. Follow the advice of the health experts. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Heading to the beach should only be considered an option if social distancing practices can be followed. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter the efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization public resource on COVID-19.

Water Quality

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on June 10th, 2019. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on June 13th, 2019 at 12:25 PM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

6°C

Cloudy with a few clear breaks

View this beach on Great Lakes Guide

Report Pollution

Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Ontario Parks beaches are monitored according to the province's Beach Management Protocol. The Protocol says that authorities must check water quality at least weekly from June 1 to Labour Day at beaches where there are formal swimming programs or lifeguards. Beaches are typically tested early in the week, on Monday or Tuesday. Samples are processed at provincial labs and therefore processing times vary from park to park, depending on location. Beach postings may occur anytime during the bathing season. As part of the routine monitoring program of public beaches, beach postings may be required where exceedance of recreational water quality levels and other environmental data supports the need for posting. Beaches are posted when the geometric mean of the samples collected exceeds 100 E. coli / 100 ml of water. If the recreational water quality at a swim site meets this standard it is given a GREEN current status in Swim Guide. If the recreational water quality at a swim site exceeds this standard it is given a RED current status in Swim Guide. When water quality exceeds the recreational water quality standards, Ontario Parks posts alerts on their website. Beaches are also physically posted with a sign. Ontario Parks re-samples water that has exceeded the standard as soon as possible.Lake Ontario Waterkeeper enters water quality test results into Swim Guide according to the actual date the sample was taken. Each Ontario Park typically samples its beaches on the same day every week (or month). Ontario Parks has provided us with the sample collection schedule (Mon-Sun) for Ontario Parks' beaches they monitor. We enter water quality data for Ontario Parks according to their sample collection schedule.

Water Quality Graph