Revisiting the Harbour

We were out of the van in a flash, and headed out to revisit the little harbour we've been to so many times in the past, if not recently.  I remember this as a harbour of fishing tugs, slowly being overtaken by pleasure boats, but in more recent years tour boats and diving boats have proliferated.

The 'NorLight' was clearly a dive boat, with the space in the stern for a few divers to gather.

I think the 'Dawn Light' is a tour boat, with closed in cabin space for the tourists if it gets rough.

Across the way were two boats of the Blue Heron Cruises, a company that runs popular cruises out to Flowerpot Island.  I'm sure they are totally occupied in the summer!

I wandered down the south edge of the harbour to find new floating docks extending outwards, for smaller craft and more diving boats.  At that point I was stopped by inaccessible docks.

But I watched a moment as four guys in the first boat on the left were preparing for a dive trip, adjusting gear and making sure they were ready.

At this point it's worth saying a bit about the national park.  There are actually two national parks in this area, the Bruce Peninsula National Park and the Fathom Five National Marine Park.  The latter is known for its many shipwrecks, hence the dive boats I'm mentioning.  Diving on those shipwrecks is very popular! 

The former is based on the mainland, but includes sections of shoreline on both the east and west coasts of the peninsula, the east with its spectacular cliffs overlooking Georgian Bay, and the west with its sandy shoreline dropping very gently into Lake Huron.  The Grotto, a cave on the east shore is so popular that reservations are required, just to walk out there - though I've been there probably 20 times, usually leading groups of students back in the years before its popularity exploded!

Talking about the national park, this is the sort of improvements I noticed, clean permanent porta-potties, though they're certainly not accessible!

After exploring the docks I ventured up the street above.  It's now a one-way street, so I was comfortable dodging traffic.  I won't bother you with the numerous tacky (and inaccessible) stores, but I was interested in this one, a place I remember as Mrs. Belrose's boarding house.  I stayed here in an upstairs bedroom as a teenager once I could drive up here myself.  As I recall Mrs. Belrose was a widow who rented out rooms to make a living.

I soon made it to the cairn that marks the northern terminus of the Bruce Trail.  You can see I successfully reached the end of the trail in my wheelchair!

Then Mrs. F.G. saw the Chi-Cheemaun (the 'big canoe') above the buildings on the far side of the harbour.  Having had a cottage on Manitoulin for a few years when our kids were young, we've travelled on the ferry many times.  Just seeing it brought back great memories.  We turned back immediately and headed to the far side of the little harbour to watch.