Fathom Five National Marine Park is an odd triangle shaped protected area north of the tip of Bruce Peninsula. Its 130 square miles takes in over a dozen islands, 21 accessible ship wrecks, and amazing island landscapes. The islands each have different dominating animals and plants. 1000 year old cedar trees and 40+ different types of orchids, such as the Alaskan Rein, which feeds off specific fungi, grow on the islands. Both Jennifer and I have scuba dived in the park and we both agree; it’s beautiful and ice cream headache cold.
Tobermory Harbour on the Blue Heron V
We took a boat tour, operated by Blue Heron Company, www.blueheronco.com, to Flower Pot Island, named for the limestone towers called flower pots. The tour boat had a small glass bottom area and they took us over 2 wrecks within the harbour area. The day was cool, sunny, and the water was clear. There were 4 others on the tour so the trails wouldn’t be crowded. There was no need to use the glass bottom. From here we continued on the cruise around the islands and on the Flower Pot Island. I had recently purchased a small action camera and all the accruements after retiring and I took it along to play with. It didn’t take Jennifer long to tire of it, but it takes nice pictures.
Flower Pot
The trail took us by interesting rock formations, plants, a lighthouse, and camp sites. The rocky shoreline, where the flower pots are, is wide enough to enable walking but you need good soles. The trail we took was well marked and maintained. It was the shortest trail as our tour boat was coming back in less than 2-hours. We came across a tent site on the way. There are 6 tent sites on the island, each on a flat wooden platform. Campers are advised to take a few days supplies as getting on or off is weather dependant.
The boat ride back was as calm as going out as there was just a light ripple in the water. Back on shore we walked through some of the stores at the harbour, bought lunch at a sandwich shop, and had our picnic lunch. From there it was 20 minutes back to our campsite in Summerhouse Park.