Fathom Five National Marine Park — Attraction in Tobermory

Tobermory is a beautiful place for a family to enjoy, recomand 1 to 3 day visit. Its a very long ride from heart of Toronto only due to the fact that there are no highway routes to the location. If you do speed to get there and back then be ware of tickets, never speed on the route to tobermory! Now once you are there you would likely want to purchase a boat ticket(prefer to purchase before hand) on blue herion or the other cruise company to go to bruce island and 2 wrecks. If you are docking on the island you do have to pay a canada park fee which gets you access to many other locations on tobermory area. If you have a great deal of time to wait for the cruise ride then from blue herion parking lot back track 10 min drive on the left side there is a camp ground park in there(cyprus lake), there is a beautiful clif park for photos and trail takes estimated 2 hours total walk time. There is a closer area singing beach which is a beach with frogs, butterflies and good place to bathe, the trail there should take 30 min. Another option is stay at the dock have a grub at the priate looking restaurant, give a try on the 2 piece whitefish with fries, personally dont like the haddock that much(compared to white fish), no need for all you can eat because 2 piece of fish is more than enough. Now lets say you are departing, once you are on the cruise you will visit the first wreck, i suggest you sit on top to get the great view of georgian bay, once you are at the first wreck you can take photos from top floor or first floor glass window from the boat, afterwards you will have a 20min ride to get to bruce island where you can walk a 20min trail to visit 2 flower pots and a cave with light house keeper house. To take photos and visit you should make sure your pickup cruise is atleast 1:30hours away from dropping you off. If you deside to swim or enjoy the rock view/pictures i do suggest 3 hours on the island. You need to know timing due to the round trip ticket you would need to purchase prior to getting in the cruise. Once you are back from the cruise you can go to the harbour upper area for the ice cream, the alfogato is very good they use Nescafe coffee. Im from gta area we left around 8, came home around 11, total drive time approx 4 hours per trip, with light traffice, with limited speed limit. Plan your day or get a hotel room, cottage when you head out. Blue herion also have hotel rooms which is right at the harbour. There are also private boat/jet ski/kayak/scuba diving rentals on the spot. There are also helicopters trips but need to schedule in advance. Hope this helps for first time visitors. Cheers. Ps. I have gotten ticket before in route to visit,...

Although Fathom Five National Marine Park is spread over several islands, this is a review of Flowerpot Island - the only island open to public.

First of all, this place is beautiful like you've never seen before! So why 3 stars? Well, it's not suitable for everyone, especially the very young and the elderly.

If you're planning a trip to Tobermory and want to take the boat cruise over to Flowerpot Island, here's what you can expect: nature at its best!

If you're a nature lover this is definitely the spot for you but bear in mind that if you're bringing kids along, they're going to get tired, bored and some of the areas such as the beach are just not safe for the kids. It's a rocky beach, not a sandy beach, which means it's not as fun and safe for kids. The rocks are slippery and depending on how strong the surf is, probably not safe for swimming either.

A very important thing to keep in mind is the considerable amount of climbing up/down involved to fully enjoy the park. Once you're past the ferry dock area, the hiking trail elevates and you have to climb down rocks to get to the water. This is true for both the large and the small flowerpots (the name of the island comes from two rock pillars on its eastern shore, which look like flower pots). So if you want to get to the rock formations, you'll have to climb down around 50-100 feet, depending on the spot, from the hiking trail to get to the water.

Another attraction on the island is a cave. Again, if you want to see the cave, you have to climb up approximately 100 feet to get to the cave entrance. The one positive is that this climbing is not on the rock or the trail - there's actually a wooden staircase to get to the cave. In my opinion, still not worth it because it's a steep climb. But if you have the energy and the will or you know something about caves that I don't, go for it!

So remember there's considerable amount of walking, climbing up/down involved on the island, with the hiking trail being damp or wet. Wear proper shoes or you'll regret it.

Last but not least, I saw a few elderly people sitting on the side of the hiking trail because they ran out of steam or just couldn't keep up with the activities involved. I kinda felt sorry for them because it's just not the place to bring your grandparents to. They will NOT enjoy it. I guess if you have to bring elderly people along, let them rest in the picnic area near the ferry dock. As far as I know, that's the only place with benches and a...

Tobermory - one of the premier scuba diving sites in Ontario If you are a scuba diver, Tobermory is a destination you will want to include on your list of sites to visit. The Fathom Five marine park has great rock formations and a number of ship wrecks that are suitable for both novice and experienced divers to enjoy. Many of these dive sites are accessible from shore. For the dive sites that require a boat, there are several dive charters available for both walk-on and for group charters. There are wrecks in as shallow as 10 to 20 feet of water, to a few that are deeper than 120 feet (and there are options between these extremes). Many of the wrecks in deeper water also allow less experienced divers to stay on the upper decks and remain in the 50 to 70 foot depth range.

The water in Tobermory tends to be on the cool side, especially early in the dive season, so you will need a warm wet suit (7 mil) or a dry suit. Later in the season the water warms near the surface, but at depth the water may still be fairly cool (in the 40 to low 50'F range). Visibility on most sites is fairly good ( 20 ft). There is abundant fish on most wrecks.

Since this is a fresh water diving site, and since the water is cool, most of the wrecks in deeper water are well preserved and provide a glimpse into history. Wrecks that have been sunk for more than 100 years are well preserved. Some wrecks in shallow water have been broken apart by pack ice over the winters, but still provide an interesting dive.

If you come to Tobermory, make sure you include a trip to the Grotto Cave. It is well worth the time. There are many swim throughs in the rock formations to enjoy, including the...