3rd Week Out-1, June 28-29

On Sunday, June 28, we crossed Georgian Bay from Killarney on the north end to Tobermory on the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Sea conditions were not pleasant - 3-6 footers on the nose and raining. It was a 56 mile trip and we had to slow down to about 15 knots.

We stayed Sunday and Monday. It is a bustling little tourist town. The ferry, Chi-Chemaun, crossed from Tobermory to South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. During the summer, it makes 4 trips a day and we were amazed at the number of people and vehicles that cross on each trip. We watched them arrive and depart; the turnaround time is amazing. The people drive their own vehicles on and off and they unload and load in less than 30 minutes. The ferry opens at both ends so they can drive their car on and continue out the other end when they arrive at their destination.

The area has hundreds of shipwrecks and some are visible as you can see from the picture of a schooner in Tobermory Harbor. We have never seen water clearer than this. It is beautiful. There are several glass-bottom tour boats; some tour these wrecks. Other tour boats take you to Flowerpot Island to explore. If you look close, you will see Live Wire tied at the dock in one of the pictures.

A 74-foot Viking (same brand and style as Live Wire) came in and tied up on the dock where we were. It dwarfed our little boat. It was brand new, a $5 million dollar boat, that would burn probably 150 gallon of fuel an hour at cruise. It weighs from 120 to 140 thousand pounds.

I failed to mention that, while we were at Duncan Bay, there is a glass case in the clubhouse with two white styrofoam coffee cups that are smaller than a shot glass in size and have the names of Bob and Jill Williams on them. Jill Williams had purchased, from the Russians, a dive to the Titanic and the Bismarck for her husband, in one of their deep diving bells. On one of the dives, they took these full-sized styrofoam cups and wrote their names on them, placed them on the exterior of the bell and the water pressure at between 12,400 feet and 15,000 feet deep shrunk these cups perfectly.

Also, while at Duncan Bay, Dave Trotter, a well-known Great Lakes shipwreck explorer, put on a slide show and discussion which was very interesting. He has personally located over 2,000 wrecks and in one of the slides it shows the legs of a crewmember still intact on a wreck near Isle Royale.

Note: There may be more than one post per week. Be sure to check for additional posts for the week. I am numbering them, for example, 2nd Week Out-1; 2nd Week Out-2; and so on. If these are not on the main blog page, look at the bottom for archived posts.