TOBERMORY

The wind died down a little overnight, but it was still there when we left Club Island about 7 AM. We continued on, picking up our bearing for Tobermory and passing between Flowerpot Island and Bear’s Rump Island.

One of the "flowerpot" formations on Flowerpot Island

Glad we waited until this morning - even with the slackened wind, it was not completely smooth cruising. We stuck our nose into the harbor at Flowerpot, knowing that there is a dock in there and it is a National Park where our docking permit is good for free mooring. The water is incredibly clear, and, although the depth sounder read 7 feet, it looked like we would hit rocks at any time. Elaine wasn’t comfortable going in, so we backed out and continued on to Big Tub Harbor, which is the only designated anchorage in Tobermory. Unfortunately, Big Tub Harbor is 40-50 feet deep and has a constant stream of tour and excursion boats going through it to look at the wrecks at the end of the harbor. We gave up and went over to the Municipal Docks and got a slip.

Tobermory is a cute little town with a resort feel to it. Lots of gift shops, clothing stores, restaurants, etc. We had a bit of a hassle getting electrical power at the docks, but while we were out exploring the shipwrecks in the harbor with the dinghy, they got everything squared away and we had power once we were back on board.

Shipwrecks in the harbor

It’s a very busy harbor, partly due to the season and partly due to the weekend, but there are private yachts (in the 60-70 foot range), tour boats, glass-bottom boats, ferries and even kayaks constantly streaming by our boat, which is docked at the outside end of the harbor. One of the draws here is the abundance of shipwrecks which can be seen in the clear water. Visibility is at least 50-60 feet underwater, although snorkeling is a bit of a challenge with the water being only about 60 degrees or so.

We took a walk around town, even checking out the 385 foot Chi-Cheemaun Ferry which goes over to Manitoulin Island. I talked with the tour boat operators who go out to Flowerpot Island, and they said the harbor entrance was 5 feet deep - plenty of room for my 2’4” draft. We may go out there tomorrow and check it out some more.

You can tell you’re in a decent little town when you run across a brew pub, especially one that brews a nice porter. It was pretty warm by the time we finished our walk around town so that porter tasted mighty fine.

We’ll need to do some provisioning tomorrow morning before we leave, but there’s a grocery store right at the harbor. Having minimal food on board is as good of excuse as any for dinner at a nice restaurant tonight…