Page 32 - AlertDiver_Winter2013

30 | WINTER 2013
LOCAL DIVING
Ihad heard about what to expect when gearing up and
splashing in off the coast of Canada’s Tobermory: I was in
for some spectacular diving, but I’d better be ready for cold.
“I’m a Great Lakes diver,” I thought. “Cold is what I do.”
But even divers who usually shy away from chilly water will find
it hard to resist the area’s well-preserved wooden vessels replete
with an impressive array of wheels, bowsprits and anchors.
The sight of the Arabia, which has spent more than 125 years
underwater, is enough to ease a bout of the shivers. A signature
shipwreck in the Fathom Five National Marine Park of Canada,
the Arabia is a three-masted wooden barque that sank in heavy
seas in 1884. I descended down a line into Lake Huron onto the
Arabia’s fully intact bow and a stunning view of its bowsprit.
Local captain Larry Graham of Divers Den lists the Arabia
among Tobermory’s “crown jewels,” and it’s easy to see why. This
ship has everything. After spending some time at the bowsprit, I
slowly glide over broken decking toward the ship’s great windlass,
which is flanked by two impressive anchors. Deadeyes peek up
from the railing as I travel sternward, and there in the muck
off the starboard side is the ship’s wheel, still standing upright.
Its depth (about 120 feet) and the cold temperature mean the
Arabia is best considered an advanced dive.
tobermory,
ontario
T e x t b y E r i c a B l a k e / P h o t o s b y A n d y M o r r i s o n
Variety and wrecks aplenty in clear, chilly water