 More 2016 Adventures |
Detroit, MI → Tobermory, ON 283.0 mi (455.4 km) |
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How’s it going, everyone?!
You probably remember my Canadian pal, Danielle, from her visits to California in 2013 and 2015. Since I’ve been long overdue to pay her a visit in the Land of Beavers, and she had her grandma hand-knit me a Canadian toque to wear, I told her “Sorry!” like a Canadian and booked my ticket!
You may also remember that I am now giving tours for other tiny travelers, and when my history buff woodchuck pal, Scooter Wojak, heard that I was going to Canada, very near the home of forecasting groundhog, Wiarton Willie, he signed right up! So, after a flight into Detroit, an intense grilling by the border guard, and a briefing on Canadian manners and Tim Horton’s, we were on our way north to the lakeside town of Tobermory (Toe-buh-mo-ree), listening to something called “Fetty Wap!”
Tobermory is named after the capital of the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides, because the two places have very similar harbors! And what a harbor! The water here is so clean that the locals say you can drink straight out of Georgian Bay! There are also hundreds of historic shipwrecks right below the surface, making up Fathom Five National Marine Park, our first expedition on this cold and rainy day!
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After checking in at the Blue Bay Motel, Danielle, Scooter, and I boarded a glass-bottom boat, run by Blue Heron Cruises. We motored out of Little Tub Harbour and into neighboring Big Tub Harbour, where the ruins of the Sweepstakes and the City of Grand Rapids slumber like Cthulhu right below the surface! The Sweepstakes (pictured) was a coal schooner that was damaged on shoals near Cove Island and towed here for repair. When repairs failed, she got sunk here in 1885! The City of Grand Rapids, on the other hand, caught fire in 1907 and was let loose to drown in Big Tub Harbour!
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The captain didn’t give us much time to take photos before circling around and heading back out to open water. These were the only shipwrecks out of 600 that we saw today, but they were pretty spectacular! It’s because of them that Tobermory is the freshwater diving capital of the world!
It took about an hour to go from Big Tub Harbour across the gloomy stretches of water to our next stop, Flowerpot Island, which is named for the two big flowerpot-shaped sea stacks on its shore! In case you were wondering, a sea stack is a tall, thin pillar of rock shaped over millennia by wind and waves!
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We only had an hour and a half to see what we could on the island, so we had to hoof it! There are trails looping all along the western coast of the island, but luckily, the boat pulled in really close to the island’s main attraction!
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There are two flowerpots, a big one and a little one, with neat, resilient trees growing out of their sides! We stopped at the little one first, which is also the easiest to approach. You can walk right up to it! Some folks have even climbed it, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Something as fragile looking as these flowerpots needs all the protection it can get!
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Though the sky was gray, the rain had lightened up, leaving us nice and dry while we admired the flowerpots and crystal blue waves, all while we waited for the other tourists to clear out of the photos. Though this is the week before the main tourist season starts, there are always competing cameras when you’re visiting formations as magnificent as these!
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Time ran out way too quickly, but before we went, Scooter, who is very fond of lighthouses, wanted to see the historic Flowerpot Island Light Station! We had to hustle just over a kilometer to see the station, first built in 1897 high on a cliff overlooking the water! Though the original light was burned and dropped off the cliff in 1968, the rest of the light station is still intact after over a hundred years!
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With time ticking down, we hustled back to the harbour just in time to board the boat back to the mainland and a hot, steamy bowl of borscht at the Tobermory Brewing Company & Grill! The storm mutated into a fabulous, orange sunset, and the three of us contentedly watched as a single Canadian beaver cruised into the distance. George?
See you tomorrow, eh?
More 2016 Adventures |
Total Ground Covered: 283.0 mi (455.4 km) |
Next Day |