 The Schooner Sweepstakes. Two masted schooner built in 1867 and sunk in 1885. She is 36 metres long and lies in 3 meters of water in the protected Big Tug Harbour. The partially exposed 37 metre long City of Grand Rapids lies 3 metres away. Photo by jim Kozmik
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By Stephen Weir Nobody in the packed Craigie's Harbourside Restaurant saw anything odd in the young lady who breezed in through the squeaky screen door. She walked by two tables of diners, stopped at the cash register, looked at the laminated menu and dropped 4 toonies onto the linoleum counter. "Give me a Jaw Droppin’, Eye Poppin’, White Fish Sandwich," she said. Struggling to peel back her skin tight rubber sleeve, she looked at her watch and sighed…. "Better make it to go." The man at the cash, nodded, picked up the coins and then wiped up the puddle of water that had suddenly appeared on the counter. Looking out towards the harbour he spies three divers in wetsuits heading up towards the café’s backdoor, he figures he will wait until all the afternoon dive boats leave before bothering to mop the floor. Craigie's has been serving its famous Jaw Droppin’, Eye Poppin’, white fish burgers, sandwiches and dinners to divers for just about as long as there have been diving in Canada. Located in the epicenter of wreck diving in Ontario, Craigie's is part of small but vital industry that services the needs of visitors to the Fathom Five National Marine Park. In Ontario, there are cities, towns, villages, the boondocks…. and then there is Tobermory. Situated on the rocky tip of the Bruce Peninsula, there is Lake Huron on the left, Georgian Bay on the right and nothing but rock and bush in between. A four-hour drive from Toronto, the locals have been known to joke that even the black bears (and there are a few) ask for isolation pay! But, this warm September Sunday the village is hopping. Divers are crowding into the Diver Den shop and G&S Watersports, to jostle for position at the fill stations (compressed air and Nitrox) rent gear and scramble for any available spot on the dozen or so dive boats moored in the downtown port. Tobermory's many restaurants are a buzz of activity as lunches are packed, coffees poured and bottled water is put on ice. The town’s only grocery store has a line-up down past the frozen foods –- it is just about even; half of the people waiting to cash out are wearing dry suits, the rest look like they might have just come from church. Tobermory is the headquarters of the Fathom Five National Marine Park -- Canada’s first national marine park. The park protects 20 islands at the mouth of Georgian Bay, and a main ecosystem that extends from the surface water down 200 metres. Twenty-two shipwrecks are found in the park’s waters. If one doesn’t dive or snorkel they can see shipwrecks from Tobermory’s fleet of glass-bottom boats. People visit nearby Flowerpot Island to camp, see the island’s namesake rock columns, visit a restored lighthouse and explore a cave. On the mainland thousands of Ontarians come annually to see the wonders of the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Tobermory is celebrating a birthday in 2001. The Fathom Five National Park quietly turned 30 years old earlier this year. "The concept for the park was actually developed by a university student," explained Dianne Woods, a long time volunteer at the Park and one of the co-founders of the Friends of the Fathom Five Association. " That thesis was the basis for the underwater park that was established by the Provincial Government back in 1971." The Federal Government assumed control of the Park in 1987 and has used Tobermory as a model for three more marine heritage sites that have now been established in Quebec and British Columbia. "Our biggest year, in terms of diver traffic, was in 1988. That was our first full year of operation (as a National Park), we registered about 8,000 divers," explained Don Wilkes, Parks Canada’s Visitor Centre Media Coordinator in Tobermory. " For the past few years the number of divers registering has remained constant at 5,000." "The vast majority of divers are from Ontario. We register every diver who comes to the Park, so we have a good handle on who is visiting the wrecks," continued Mr. Wilkes. "Yes we have seen a decline in the number of divers (the park counts the number of people diving, not the number of dives made). This decline may be as a result of the dynamics of diving in Central Canada – it is an aging population and there aren’t as many young divers coming on stream." Regardless of the numbers, divers have changed the look of the town from a fishing port to a tourism Mecca. Hotels, motels, campgrounds, affordable Bed & Breakfasts, gift shops and dive shops line the picture perfect deepwater harbour. One of the real benefits of being a dive destination is that despite its small population the town has a fully functional hyperbaric chamber in its small medical clinic. Dr George Harpur built the Chamber in the early days of the Park to treat visiting divers. Ontario has an excellent safety record (incidents are very low and the province is fatality free in 2001) so Dr. Harpur and his staff are also the main medical resource for families living in the Upper End of the Bruce Peninsula. Volunteers assist with the operation of the Chamber. They also help out with many other aspects of the operation of the park. This Sunday, Audrey, a volunteer diver is looking after the diver registration in the Park’s downtown office. She left downtown Toronto at 4am on Saturday and drove non-stop to Tobermory. Throughout the long day she will register divers, collect an annual $8 fee and talk to divers about the rules ( i.e. flags are mandatory), safety issues and proper treatment of the wrecks. Other volunteers are out on the water with the Park rangers, checking to make sure that divers are using their flags, obeying the rules and showing their park fee licence (a plastic tag attached to a tank or gear). Audrey was recruited by the Friends of the Fathom Five. The Friends are a group of people who raise money for the park, help interface with visiting divers and do things the park staff can’t do. Over the years they have built boardwalks, repaired lighthouses and raised thousands of dollars for the Park. "The Park is in the midst of a vibrant eco-system, but we (the Park and the Friends of the Fathom Five) do have our challenges," continued Mr. Wilkes. "We are building a Media Centre that when open, will show the non-diving public just how rich our underwater heritage is. As well, we are going to be talking about some of our other Park assets." The challenges that Mr. Wilkes alluded to are environmental in nature. Water levels in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay are way down. In fact, the City of Grand Rapids, once a popular shore-dive site, is now half out of water and is best seen by waders. As well the waters of the park, like all of the Great Lakes, have been invaded by zebra mussels. This foreign specie is coating the wrecks in such numbers that the weight of their shells is putting stress on the wooden decks. "We have tried to remove the zebra mussels," said Mr. Wilkes. "But, when we found that we took away the mussels we were taking away bits of the wreck. There is nothing we can do, but, let nature take its course." The local dive industry is fighting back. The Marine Association, yet another volunteer group, sunk the Niagara II just outside of park, giving divers yet another reason to visit Tobermory. The Marine Association, the Park and the Friends of Fathom Five are working together to stress some of the other underwater attributes of the park. There are caves, steep walls, pot holes, underwater waterfalls and other underwater geological formations that will be of interest to scuba tourists for years to come. By any other name would this Park be so sweet? What is in a name? Well, a fathom is a measure of water depth. A fathom equals 6 ft (2 meters) and 5 fathoms equals 30 feet (10 meters). Although some of the Fathom Five National Marine Park wrecks are much deeper than 5 fathoms, many are shallow and afford generous bottom times. The term Fathom Five came into popular use thanks to William Shakespeare. In the opening act of his play, The Tempest, Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples, thinks his father has been killed in a shipwreck. In his grief he recites these now famous lines: Diving by the Numbers Want to reach the Park? The staff at Fathom Five can be reached at: Although it hasn’t been updated in over a year, the park does maintain a Website, which has maps, photographs and diver information. That site is located at: http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca/parks/ontario/fathom_five/fathom_five_e.htm The dive center is open daily, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. from the end of June until Labour Day. The Diver Registration Office is Open daily from April to Thanksgiving. Hours are posted at office for the winter season. Lights, Action, Cameras. Cue the Arabia The Fathom Five National Park hasn’t publicly made a big deal about its 30th anniversary. But, behind the scenes, the cameras are whirling, the lights are beaming and history is being captured on film. In anticipation of the 2004 opening of a new Discovery Center, the Park has hired some of Canada’s best known underwater videographers to capture images of the park that can be shown to future visitors. Cameraman Jim Kozmik and film supply company David Woods Production are working with an Ottawa film maker to shoot high definition video images of the natural assests of the park. " We aren’t just interested in the wrecks," said Jim Kozmik. "We are going to be exploring underwater caves, taping fish and wildlife, and looking at a series of lake bottom pop-ups (caused by the shifting of the earth’s Teutonic plates)." "We will also be looking at an underwater waterfall, a few miles off shore," continued Visitor Center Media Coordinator Don Wilkes. "It was formed thousands of years ago when there was a river that drained into what is now Georgian Bay," Taking those images takes a small army of divers, camera people and sailors. The Park’s 4 boats and 16 full time employees have been pressed into service, taking the crew to the wreck sites, posing for pictures and hauling gear. "High Definition, is the technology of the future," said Diane Woods. "It is difficult to shoot, but, the results are spectacular. We hope to be able to show some of what was done (in September) at Underwater Canada in Toronto this October." |
