Tobermory Report

I left for Tobermory , Ontario with two dive buddies at 8am friday, July 15th. The drive up on friday was a bit challenging but we made it in about 7 hours (it usuually takes about 5 1/2 hours). Friday afternoon after cheching in at the Bruce Anchor Inn we headed out to Big Tub Light House Point for our first dive of weekend. We use this shore dive to acclimate divers to the 40-45 degree (farenheit) water of Georgian Bay and to familiarize them with the area so we can come back and do a night dive in the same location. Saturday morning we set out for the Niagara II, which is a 700 ton 180 foot long freighter turned sand dredge that was intentionally sunk in the Tobermory area on May 15, 1999 for the express purpose of creating a dive site. After our first dive on the Niagara II it was decided that since several of the 13 members of the dive expedition have been waiting 5 years to dive this wreck we would do it again as our second dive of the morning as well. After a 1 hour surface interval the group dove her again and made hull penetrations ad played in the wheelhouse. After the second Niagara II dive we headed back to Big Tub Harbor for lunch and to refill our tanks for the second half of our day.
In the afternoon we headed over to the W.L. Whetmore a wooden steamer 213 feet long that was driven ashore on Russell Island on May 17, 1901. The Whetmore is pretty flat but offers a great opportunity to study the achitecture of ships of the late 19th century. You can find her boiler, most of the propeller and machinery as well. We stayed at the Whetmore a little longer than usual because it is a pretty shallow wreck (25-30 ft) so this was our last dive of the day.
Saturday night we sampled the local color of "downtown" Tobermory.
On (late) Sunday morning several members of our group decided to do one more dive among the sunken tugs in Little Tub Harbor. Among the wrecks are; the Bob Foote, Sank in 1905; the 67' Alice G., sank in 1927; the 68' Robert K., sank in 1935; and the 59' John and Alice, sank in 1947. I opted out of this dive to begin the trip home hoping it would't take another 7 hours, it didn't and I was home among my family by 6pm on Sunday July 17.
This was a great trip and I recommend it to anyone with a desire for wreck diving. The water is cold all year round and dry suits are recommended. There are two dive shops in the area and they offer many opportunities to charter boats to the outlying wrecks.