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Fathom Five National Marine Park

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Fathom Five National Marine Park
Flowerpot Island
Flowerpot Island
LocationOntario, Canada
Nearest cityTobermory, Ontario
Area112 km²
Established1987
Governing bodyParks Canada

Fathom Five National Marine Park is a largely underwater national park in Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada that seeks to protect and display shipwrecks and lighthouses. The many shipwrecks make the park a popular scuba diving destination, and glass bottom boat tours leave Tobermory, Ontario regularly, allowing tourists to see the shipwrecks without having to get wet. Many visitors camp at nearby Bruce Peninsula National Park and use the park as a base to explore Fathom Five and the surrounding area during the day.

Fathom Five also contains numerous islands, notably Flowerpot Island, which has rough camping facilities, marked trails, and its namesake flowerpots, outlying stacks of escarpment cliff that stand a short distance from the island, most with vegetation (including trees) still growing on them.


Flowerpot Island, both "flowerpots"

Visitors' Centre

In 2006, a new visitors' centre opened to serve Fathom Five National Marine Park and the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Designed by Andrew Frontini of Shore Tilbe Irwin + Partners, the CAD $7.82 million centre, approached by a boardwalk, features an information centre, reception area, exhibit hall and theatre. A 20 metre viewing tower was also constructed to provide visitors with aireal views of the surrounding park and Georgian Bay. The centre was designed with environmental sustainability in mind, receiving $224,000 from the Federal House in Order initiative for implementation of innovative greenhouse gas reduction technology.[1]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ [Canada Newswire; Parks Canada hosts opening ceremony for a new visitor centre at Fathom Five National Marine Park of Canada and Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada; August 16, 2006]