Flower Pots and Diving with Shipwrecks

Toronto is great, and I love it. It's my home! But it can feel a bit suffocating for me at times, with all the skyscrapers and highways and traffic and other such signs of civilization. I am a nature girl, and I need to get out of this concrete jungle whenever I can! Thankfully, here in my province, there is A LOT of beauty. In fact, just a few hours north of the city is a totally spectacular spot, the Bruce Peninsula National Park. The park is an amazing collection of limestone cliffs, caves and white rocky beaches contrasting with the stunning crystal clear turquoise waters of Georgian Bay. I had never been there before, so when I heard that my good friend Barb was going camping there, I totally invited myself on her trip, haha!

I don't think she is too mad I crashed her Bruce Peninsula party!

As soon as I arrived, Barb and I immediately set off on our first adventure on a glass bottomed boat to Flower Pot Island to see the famed giant "flower pots". These are are huge limestone towers formed by thousands of years of erosion. They were really dramatic along the shoreline of the island. We hiked around some of the trails and saw some really cool scenery.

It's a flower pot!

These things are huge!

The limestone formed some really interesting patterns along the shore

Adding to the inukshuk... mere minutes before accidentally knocking over the top half... oops!

Barb at a super cool section of trail

Inter-species snake cuddle time

Cave exploring

The glass bottom boat also took us over a few of the shipwrecks in a little cove (http://www.blueheronco.com/shipwrecks-of-tobermory.html).  There are a ton of shipwrecks in Georgian Bay from the 1800's and early 1900's mostly due to severe winter storms. Can you imagine trying to navigate a giant boat through tons of little rocky islands in a white-out? Nope me neither.

View of the wreck through the glass-bottom window

The wreck of the schooner The Sweepstakes from 1885

The wreck of the steamer The City of Grand Rapids from 1907,
so shallow it is literally popping right out of the water!

Back at our campsite later that evening, we hiked out to the Grotto, an incredibly beautiful spot. We watched the sunset and it was really romantic. We cuddled and it was a beautiful moment hehehe ;)

By the time we hiked back to camp, it was dark out. But it turned out to be a totally awesome night hike, full of wildlife! We spotted a Red-bellied snake, a salamander (the first one I've ever seen in the wild!) and a Northern leopard frog!

Red-bellied snake

Salamander.. which kind, I'm not sure... any ideas anyone?

Northern leopard frog

The next day, we set off on our snorkeling and diving trip in the Fathom Five National Marine Park in Tobermory, which is one of the top 10 diving spots in the WORLD!!! http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/amnc-nmca/on/fathomfive/activ/activ2.aspx. The water here is really clear and the wrecks are really well preserved. It was actually a pretty cool and windy day when we went, and the water was even colder! We donned two wetsuits each, and hoped for the best as we plunged into the water! The first dive was pretty shallow, and the wreck was preserved really well, even though it was from the 1800's. There were lots of round gobies (even though they're invasive... but that's a whole other blog post) and crayfish swimming around, and at one point I was swimming along at eye level with a few bass! The second dive was deeper, and man was it cold down there. Pretty much the only part of my body not covered by a wetsuit was my upper lip, and it felt like freezing cold icicles were forming on my lip at first! Thankfully the shipwreck was angled upwards along the sloping shore so we just got shallower as we went along checking out the old structures.

That's me with the stylish blue tank and yellow flippers

What a great getaway. It's a good reminder to remember to appreciate the beauty you can find in your own backyard. Thanks Barb for including me on the trip, and taking most of the amazing photos in this post, including all of the underwater shots!!