8/27 Boat Trip in Tobermory, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario

I've been traveling in Ontario searching for the cemeteries where my great- and great-great-grandparents, but the weather has been mostly cool and damp with rain every couple of days.  Yesterday, I spent the day doing nothing, but since today and tomorrow were supposed to be sunny and relatively pleasant, I decided to drive the 70 miles where I have been staying to the small town of Tobermory on the far end of the Bruce Peninsula.  

As you can see from this map, the Bruce Peninsula divides Georgian Bay from the rest of Lake Huron.  It is also the northern tip of the Niagara Escarpment, which is a tall ridge that goes from Niagara to the Michigan Upper Peninsula and then wraps around the top of the state and heads down toward Wisconsin.  It is what Niagara Falls falls over.  

What makes the small town of Tobermory interesting is that the water of Lake Huron here is crystal clear and the peninsula is surrounded by hundreds of shipwrecks.  This makes is a diver's paradise.  There is also a car ferry from Tobermory and goes to Manitoulin Island, which is a nice shortcut to Northern Ontario and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

I have been to Tobermory several times over the past several decades, but it is always a beautiful place, so off I went this morning to take a boat tour. 

There are a lot of different boat tours available.  Some are specifically for divers and take them out to various shipwrecks.  Others are for non-divers but will drop you off at Flowerpot Island, for the day or for a night or more of camping, along with all of your equipment.  I did not want to stop at Flowerpot and chose a longer tour that drove past the island, but did not stop.

Tobermory has a very pretty little harbor full of boats and kayaks.

This is the car ferry, Chi-Cheemaun.  Impressing opening of the bow and the rear.  It was built specifically for the occasionally very rough waters of Lake Huron, hence it needed a pointed bow.  We took this ferry way back in about 1982 when we drove up through Ontario and then circled Lake Superior. 

This is the front end of our tour boat.

 

 

And this is the back end of the upper deck of the tour boat.  

 

 

We went very slowly and very closely to Flowerpot Island.  There is a very sharp drop-off very close to the island so boats can get within a very few feet of the rocks.   Note how clear the water is.

 

 

 

Also note that while people seem to having a great time  in their bathing suits along the shore, a lot of them are wearing jackets and few are actually in the water because it is VERY cold this far north, and it was a chilly day to begin with!

We caught sight of the Chi-Cheemaun as we approached the main shipping entrance to Georgian Bay. 

Just before we were back in the Tobermory Harbor, we went down the nearby Big Tub Harbor  where two ships were sunk over 100 years ago. 

The tour boat was able to turn itself around several times so you could view these two wrecks from the deck.  This is the rear of the Sweepstakes, a Canadian schooner sunk in 20 feet of water in 1885. 

More views of the Sweepstakes.

Nearby, and closer to the shore, is the steamship City of Grand Rapids.  It was cut loose from the dock when it caught fire in 1907. 

Another photo of the City of Grand Rapids.

Some very pretty homes along Big Tub Harbor. 

I remember way back in 1982 that my ex and I went swimming with our kids off the rocks surrounding this lighthouse.  Kids were good swimmers, so we were in about 20' of water and could look down and see divers below us!!

Two other tour boats going into and out of Big Tub Harbor.

It was a long drive and a tiring day in the sun, but tomorrow I am going to head to a local museum to get try to find out exactly where my great-great-grandparents lived and were buried.  Then on to Sarnia, and a return to the U.S. by next weekend.