MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Fall 2017

FALL 2017 ML BLUE 99 Words :: Greg Hannigan Photography :: Jerzy Kowalczuk The four-hour drive from the Toronto area to Tobermory is a trip known to many scuba divers from across Canada, and around the world. Tobermory lies at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula, an eighty kilometre strip of ancient dolomitic limestone forming the northern boundary of the geologic Michigan Basin. A renowned destination for those wanting to explore shipwrecks dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the waters around Tobermory also feature lesser-known yet equally spectacular underwater vistas for divers to journey much further back in time. During two recent dives in an isolated cove on the northern shore of the Peninsula just south of Tobermory, we explored a remarkable formation of dolomite rock bearing witness to glacial activity in the area 10-12,000 years ago, during the last ice age. In late November of last year, a month after the end of the ‘official’ dive season, Jerzy Kowalczuk and I made the trip to Tobermory, eagerly anticipating an early winter dive when the frigid water temperatures of Georgian Bay ensure virtually unlimited visibility. Once there, we stopped at Diver’s Den to get a nitrox fill, in order to reduce our nitrogen exposure and prolong our bottom time, as compared to diving on air. Fills completed, we drove the six kilometres to Little Cove and parked the Jeep about 60 metres from the water. After gearing up, we carefully navigated the softball-sized stones to water’s edge, enjoying the solitude of the wilderness setting as we contemplated the day’s dive. Pausing in knee-deep water to make final gear adjustments, we pushed out and descended to a depth of about 2 metres. Making our way out from shore we swam across the shallow rock shelf, which extends about 100 metres north into Georgian Bay before it abruptly drops away to a depth of about 14 metres. Here, just outside the boundaries of the cove, the UNDER GLACIER COVE DIVERS DISCOVER ANCIENT TRACES PRESERVED ON THE BOTTOM OF GEORGIAN BAY GREAT LAKES