Leaves may fall. They may die. But sometimes they seem reluctant to give up the ghost entirely.

Click here to view as an all-too-brief slideshow on Flickr. (requires Flash, at least until Flickr reads the writing on the wall and converts to HTML 5)

(click photos to view larger on Flickr)

Yesterday I took the Blue Heron Cruises Sunset Cruise out of Tobermory. I was on board the Great Blue Heron again, the same ship that took us on the Flowerpot Island Cruise last week.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Leaving Little Tub Harbour and proceeding eastward along the north shore of the Bruce Peninsula, the first section is characterized by a rugged enough shoreline by most standards, but with some cottages managing to maintain a foothold.

The shoreline soon changes to a craggier, more rugged look, and would remain so for the rest of the cruise.

It’s never difficult to see the sedimentary nature of the Bruce Peninsula, as part of the Niagara Escarpment.

Car-sized slabs of broken-off pieces of the escarpment litter the shoreline in places, giving way occasionally to small pristine cobblestone beaches.

At one point, the captain announced that we were looking at something called “Overhanging Point”. Which seemed odd, because just about every point could well have been called that, as these overhangs were in evidence all along our route.

This is part of The Grotto, a popular feature of Bruce Peninsula National Park (formerly Cyprus Lake Provincial Park).

Another overhanging point. Not sure which of these was the one actually named Overhanging Point.

The shoreline has many of these caves eroded into the rock. A popular feature of the cruise is when the captain positions the bow of the ship right in the cave. The folks standing there can actually touch the cave walls and ceiling. On this day, however, due to onshore winds and a bit of choppiness, this was as close as he dared to go, despite my taunting him and calling him “chicken”.

Not long afterwards, we turn back westwards and head off into the sunset.

Flowerpot Island slides by slowly to our starboard side, as we make our way back to Tobermory.

This is the last bunch, expect for the other 140 or so pictures I didn’t post. It’s good to have limits.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Our last island (apart from tiny Echo Island) before Flowerpot, is the rather large Cove Island, the highlight of which is the Cove Island Lighthouse. This marks the main shipping entrance to Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. Some very large ships depend on this beacon. Dating back to 1858, this 80 foot-tall structure is one of a series of six nearly identical early lighthouses called The Imperial Towers, built on Lake Huron by the Canadian Government.

A view of the Cove Island Lighthouse with the Chi-Cheemaun disappearing into the distance on its way across the open waters towards Manitoulin Island.

Here we see the residence (no longer in use) of the Flowerpot Island light keeper. The light keeper would live here from May to October, with his family joining him for the summer months. They would have gardens and rasie vegetables, and one even kept a cow. These days, the light, seen at far left in this photo, is an automated beacon (as they are in all lighthouses now) and the residence is just a stop along the hiking trail.

This is the larger of the two flowerpots on Flowerpot Island, standing at about 50 feet tall. The smaller, still out of view to the left, stands about 35 feet.

Here we see both Flowerpot Island flowerpots, the larger one in the background, the smaller one in the foreground. In the original, there are probably two dozen people enjoying the rocky beach and coastline. In this version, I carefully removed all but one of those people. See if you can find the remaining human. No hints except to say that the word “topless” is in effect.

You’ll need to view the original size to find the remaining human.

This concludes our tour of Fathom Five National Marine Park. Stay tuned for photos from Blue Heron’s Sunset Cruise, which I may do next week. And no, they’re not paying me. They should.

Flowerpot Island Cruise (part 1)
Flowerpot Island Cruise (part 2)

View all the photos from all 3 parts as a slideshow on Flickr.

This is the second in a three part series, depicting a tour of Fathom Five National Marine Park, including Flowerpot Island.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Guarding the entrance to Big Tub, Tobermory’s other natural harbour (along with Little Tub, where we boarded), Big Tub Lighthouse dates back to 1885. Scuba divers explore the 15-metre underwater cliffs at the site.

Another tour boat positions over the sunken wreck of the Sweepstakes, a two masted schooner lost in 1885, and lying just two metres below the surface of Big Tub Harbour in Tobermory.

I was actually surprised to see that we have cormorants this close to home. The last time I remember seeing cormorants was in the Galapagos Islands. This is way closer.

Our vessel, despite its size, draws only one metre (3 feet) of water, and so the captain can take us in fairly close, and navigate through channels generally available only to smaller craft.

The enormous ferry MS Chi-Cheemaun begins its crossing of Lake Huron to South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island.

Flowerpot Island Cruise (part 1)
Flowerpot Island Cruise (part 3)

View all the photos from all 3 parts as a slideshow on Flickr.

This is the first in a three part series, depicting a tour of Fathom Five National Marine Park, including Flowerpot Island.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Guess where I was today?

Blue Heron Cruises offers several choices of vessel, plying the waters of Fathom Five National Marine Park, near Tobermory.

This jetboat is a new addition to the fleet, called the Flowerpot Express. It’s basically a water taxi out to Flowerpot Island. If you take the larger Blue Heron V to Flowerpot, you still have to transfer to one of these jetboats to get ashore.

I was watching this boat running at speed out on the Bay… it zips along pretty good… but the passengers were getting pretty wet from the bow spray, it looked like.

This is a medium sized craft called the Blue Heron V. It does a tour of the sunken wrecks in Big Tub Harbour (This is Little Tub we see here) and then does a run over to Flowerpot Island.

The flagship vessel of Blue Heron Cruises is the Great Blue Heron. Which makes sense, ornithologically speaking. This was to be my vessel of choice this day. I sat topside, starboard, forward-most seat. Ahoy, mateys, I know some jargon.

Flowerpot Island Cruise(part 2)
Flowerpot Island Cruise(part 3)

View all the photos from all 3 parts as a slideshow on Flickr.