The ShoreXplorers: The Beautiful Bruce Closes Up as We Head South [Lake Huron & Georgian Bay] (October 16, 2014)

The Place

Off the coast of Tobermory is the Fathom Five National Marine Park. It encompasses 22 of the islands and many shipwrecks in the channel between Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay. They refer to the islands as stepping stones across the wide channel that native people, early explorers, animals and birds have used to cross the wide expanse of water.

Little known fact: With crystal clear water, shipwrecks, islands and interesting rock formations, Tobermory bills itself as the SCUBA capital of Ontario and has a bunch of dive shops to support the claim.

The Adventure

Watta View!

Our last morning in Tobermory we climbed the observation tower at the Visitor Center for the Bruce Peninsula National Park and the Fathom Five National Marine Park. After days of rain, the skies cleared to give us beautiful views of the islands, the waters and the peninsula in full Autumn colors. As we descended the stairs, the clouds returned accompanied by winds that stayed with us the rest of the day along with intermittent spitting rain.

We zigzagged our way south down the peninsula. The first stop was Stokes Bay on Lake Huron. We never actually found the town of Stokes Bay, but we traveled along a coastal gravel road lined with cottages overlooking lovely views of the little bay and islands in the bay. The docks here seemed to be laid on top of wooden structures filled with loose stones.

After crossing the 45^th parallel, we traveled into Lion’s Head on the Georgian Bay side. Lion’s Head is a small, intimate feeling town on a lovely, round bay guarded by the limestone cliffs that we have come to expect on the Georgian Bay side of the peninsula. Everything is in walking distance in the town, from the shops to the town beach and marina and municipal campground. When we were in Tobermory we heard that “Crane Day” would be next week, where huge cranes come to town and lift all the boats (except for the Coast Guard vessel and the largest glass bottom tour boat) out of the water and onto stands to be stored for the winter. It appeared that crane day had already happened at

Stokes Bay ON

Lion’s Head. We saw many pleasure sailboats with their enormous keels sitting on their stands in what must be the parking lot for the marina during the summer. The docks in the marina were empty except for a few smaller power boats that could be winched up on trailers.

Back across and further south we reached Sauble Beach on Lake Huron. Sauble Beach is a small town strung along a very long, wide sandy beach. The town was closed for the winter. A resident we spoke with told us that until May they would have only 1 grocery store, 1 hardware store, 1 restaurant and the liquor store open. The town population shrinks from 10,000 residents (not counting visitors) in the summer to 1,500 in the off-season. We walked along the windy beach and Tiki got a chance to swim in the waves, and frolic and roll in the plentiful sand.

We returned to Sauble Falls Provincial Park for the night, we had stayed here on our way up 3 days before. The park closes for the season in 9 days. The Bruce Peninsula is battening down for winter. The forecast for tomorrow night here is 1C or 34 degrees. I guess it is time for us to head southward.