Monday, August 3, 2015

Tobermory

The other place we went to on our first trip up the peninsula last week was Tobermory, the small town at the north end of the peninsula that captures traffic heading for the ferry to Manitoulin.  It's a town that suffers from a cycle of traffic congestion as the ferry docks and sails, but has a busy, beautiful little harbour.

There are two narrow bays in Tobermory, known as the Big Tub and the Little Tub; the latter is the popular harbour.  It was full of boats when we were there, on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

There's a nice walk along the south shore of the 'tub', where you can look down on the yachts moored along the docks, in the gaps between the trees.

A short distance along the walk is also the cairn marking the northern end of the Bruce Trail, erected in 1967.

There are lots of boat tours available out of Tobermory, with a high number of shipwrecks, some of which are visible from tour boats, as well as Flowerpot Island in the national park.  I think there will be lots to post about here!

We even saw a family of Mergansers swimming among the boats.

Eventually you can look back up the harbour at all the boats moored along both sides.

Personally, I like some of the old working boats like this fishing boat and the tug behind, more than the numerous modern yachts.  When I first visited Tobermory in the 1960's it was an old fisherman, Cap'n Smith, who took my mother, my aunt and I out to explore Flowerpot Island.

At the end of our walk we even saw a Loon swimming out of the harbour, a long distance out.

We ate dinner in a restaurant in what used to be an old fishing warehouse, and I was a little sad to see the old fishing tug the 'Anzac K' sitting unused and rusting up on the dock.  An enormous change has swept through Tobermory in the nearly 60 years I've been coming here.  And lots of opportunity to write some interesting blog posts.


11 comments:

  1. What a huge number of moorings, and all full, Glorious colours.

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  2. What beauty. But you know I am looking at those rocks...do you know what kind they are, how they are formed or are they worn coral?

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  3. Fun to see all the different boats.

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  4. Still looks pretty much the same as when I went up there 25 years ago . Lots of training divers for their open water diving tests go up there as there are lots of caves and sunken ship wrecks to be explored . I took my divers test up there and it was awesome yes I passed lol . I loved the little bed and breakfast place we were at by the marina we were all at and the fairy ride to our location was amazing as well ! The scenery up there is soo pretty , Lovely photos ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  5. It's a beautiful place, that's for sure, even that rusty old boat in the last picture. Thank you for bring me along on this little excursion! :-)

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  6. I wonder if the area was settled by people from Tobermoray on the Isle of Mull way back. I know that many went to Canada, mainly to Cape Breton, I believe.

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    1. Ancestors of some locals came from the Isle of Mull.

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  7. It is a busy place- I haven't been there in years.

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  8. My husband loves seeing old tugs restored, but not all make it. What's the situation with mosquitoes or biting flies up that way?

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  9. Nice post on "the Tub" Stew. We're at our place up there frequently on weekends and for vacation, 12 months of the year. Maybe we'll run into each other as I usually stop to talk to other photographers.

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  10. A little late to post I know but the Anzac K brought back some good memories. It was owned by the family and we ran dive charters off in the 70s. Sad to see her like that now but considering she sunk twice when we had it at least it is this side of the water line...lol. Thanks for sharing.

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