The Grotto, Tobermory - One of the Most Beautiful Places in Canada!

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Though we visited Tobermory before, somehow we did not visit the most beautiful place in the Bruce Peninsula region, the Grotto! On the third day of our stay in Tobermory, our hosts strongly advised us that since we drove such a long distance from Toronto to be in Tobermory, we must pay a visit to The Grotto, part of the UNESCO bioshphere.

We hesitated about the visit as the local weather forecast was a rainy day most of the day and might even be a thunderstorm.

After We got up in the morning, I wanted to prepare a nice lunch for our hosts therefore I spent the morning in the kitchen and cooking together with Helen. It was wonderful spending time with old friends and we vowed that we would keep in touch more often from now on. In fact we enjoyed our time together so much that we would try to visit Tobermory more often, definitely not another thirty years!

After lunch we packed up our things and planned to have a leisure drive back home. As luck would have it, we passed right by the sign pointing us to The Grotto! remembering what our host told us, we were determined to visit this famous spot which we had missed thirty five years ago.

We drove into the park and purchased our park and parking tickets. At the height of the tourist season, it would not be possible to have a parking spot unless you do it the day before. Since it was the fall season with less visitors, there was a spot for us, therfore we took advantage of it and decided to hike to The Grotto.

As soon as we got our tickets, it started to rain and we were not sure if we should go ahead. But the park ranger told us that often it would rain in this area but the rain would stop and it would be clear. Determined to see this famous area, we decided to continue and push on with our hike.

We were not disappointed! It was a beautiful hike with rest benches along the trail for breaks. There were a few trails and we chose the shortest one as we were limited by the amount of time we would have. True to what the park ranger had told us, the weather started to turn better; the rain stopped and the sky cleared. We ended up with a nice afternoon. On our hike we were pleasantly surprised to find young family with parents pushing their youngsters in strollers; senior folks wlaking witjh canes and a young lady gingerly hopping on crutches! What a brave a woman! After about 30- 40 minute hike, we came to an open area with lots of caves.

Wow! What a beautiful unique spot! I have never seen so many caves in one area.

There were people swimming in the water, sunbathing on the beach, climbing and exploring the caves here and there... There were quite a number of visitors doing various outdoor activities at this one spot. I thought that was the Grotto.

Wrong! As we walked further along the trail following the directions, we needed to climb to higher grounds with rocky narrow paths.

We had to be extra careful watching each of our steps with care and attention lest we would lose oir footing and fall.

Finally, we reached The Grotto! What a manificent sight lay before our eyes! It took our breath away and we were speechless!

I had never seen anything like this except in magazines! We climbed up to one of the rocks, laying there still and just take in this awesome scenery!

Below us, there were people climbing the rocky walls,some were swimming while a strong young man trying to scale to the summit and dive from the top of the cliff.

Cliff diving was not advised by the signs posted in this park.

This particular cave resembles a human face and legend has it that he looks out for the people and protects them in this region. We truly enjoyed this exceptional out of the world scenery and natural environment! There was no noise, except for the songs of birds and blowing of breezes and the rustling of the leaves. We will definitely return to the Grotto in the near future!

R.T.

The Grotto, Tobermory, Ontario, Canada