 The name of the park is the French word for peninsula, or literally "almost island", and was believed to be named by Samuel De Champlain on his second expedition.The peninsula was formed when a limestone island was connected to the mainland by a sand spit; this kind of formation is referred to as a tombolo.The park's wetlands are one of the larger wetlands along the north shore of Lake Ontario, and are noteworthy for the many sand ridges running through them, which increases habitat diversity.