The End of Tobermory?????

[Marie13]

I was thinking of Tobermory next summer, but I'm thinking about Lake Superior or northern Lake Michigan instead.

 

[NorthernPike]

I was there last week. It was awful.
Boaters are having the same parking problems as divers.
My club just cancelled a charter we had booked for August.
This will be the end of boating and diving at Tobermory.

 

[Diver Rick]

.....My club just cancelled a charter we had booked for August.....

I hope you made it clear to them why you cancelled!!

We'll need the shops and charter operators protesting these measures before anything is solved.

 

[NorthernPike]

I've made my views very clear. Many may not, and will simply and quietly just go somewhere else.

 

[Stoo]

I cannot believe that the dive shops/charters aren't screaming bloody murder...

They are, believe me. This is a perceived as a huge issue for not only divers, but anyone who wants to do the Flowerpot island boat tours or take a hike on the Bruce Trail. There is a large motion underway (initiated by the owners of Blue Heron Cruises) to at least extend the minimum to 4 hours (solves their problem, not divers or hikers) and to reopen the township office all day free parking. THERE IS ALL DAY PARKING behind the Legion, directly across Highway 6. I think the daily rate is $15.

The reason for this 2 hour limit defies logic. Most of the people I talk to about this which is well, everyone, complains about the 2 hours more than the price. Many have said they'll just skip paying, and count the $40 ticket as part of the cost of the weekend. In my experience, Tobermory is not doing anything any different than most similar communities. Sauble for example, has had paid parking for years. Tobermory is not towing offenders BTW.

My other pet peeve (and this is based on my experience with this company's meters) is that you can't extend the two hours. You can pay by phone app, but at 1:55, you can't dial in and add another 2 hours. You may be able to do it with cash, but I don't even know that that's the case.

I don't think that this is a done deal incidentally... I'll update you if I hear anything.

I should add that one unfortunate fall-out is that a lot of locals are finding people parking in the ends of their driveways. While the township is not towing, private citizens are. They simply call the Provincial Police and it's done. I believe the impound is in Wiarton...

There have been other threads on here about various things that divers don't like in Tobermory... minimum hotel stays etc. on weekends in the summer etc. Two things I will say about that... (1) Nobody cares! Diving is a tiny, tiny amount of Tobermory's tourism demographic these days. Blue Heron Co alone probably does literally 30 times as much business as both dive shops combined on any given day. Hotels are booked solid for months in advance in the summer and 99% of the guests aren't divers.

And (2) beat the system by coming in the shoulder seasons... rooms are cheaper, charters are cheaper, diving is better. I cant help with parking though at this point.

Although I am contemplating renting out the neighbor's yard since they're never there anyway... ;-)

Also, I'll rent you all day parking in my yard for 24 Moosehead Beers per day. ;-)

 

[Stoo]

I should add that a lot of your comments seem a tad dramatic. The only thing that has ACTUALLY changed is that you need to pay $15 to pay to park all day, behind the Legion. There has been 2 hour limits for most of the downtown area for years.

@NorthernPike are you seriously suggesting your club cancelled their weekend over parking charges? Or did they cancel because they couldn't get people to commit? Incidentally, cancelling a charter (or any other visit) does nothing to solve the problem. All it does is harm the dive shops. These are small seasonal businesses and taking away business is a huge issue for them, especially if it's done at the "last minute". All this will do is force them to step up their "pay up front" policies.

I don't mean to sound blunt, but if you are the kind of person who cancels a weekend here over a parking charge, you likely aren't the sort that's going to do much to support the local economy anyway...

 

[grf88]

Going from zero to $15.00 is what made me balk. If it had been $8.00 or even $10 I would have probably paid although not necessarily been happy about it. Instead I found free parking and did the extra walk.

 

[rhwestfall]

here?

If not, where?

 

[Stoo]

I was there last week. It was awful.
Boaters are having the same parking problems as divers.
My club just cancelled a charter we had booked for August.
This will be the end of boating and diving at Tobermory.

The only problem boaters have is the there isn't enough dock space... because there is so many boaters there. Ramp fees are common everywhere. Paid dockage is common everywhere. It's part of the cost of owning a boat.

Regarding fees paid to the Parks (a subject that's been beaten to death on here for decades)... those fees are put in place to access a National Park, like every other National Park on the planet. The are used to pay for moorings, emergency services (boats, staff) and education to help new visitors not kill themselves and so on. The next time you are on a charter and a club-mate surfaces 3/4 dead, you'll be happy to have the Collins H arrive to whisk him off to the chamber far faster then your dive boat can get him in. There is no ongoing marine police presence in Tobermory and the Coasties have two boats available for an area that runs from Sauble to the US border in the middle of Lake Huron, to the North Channel, and back to Dyers Bay area... about a gazillion square miles of lake.

 

[Bubblesong]

Also, I'll rent you all day parking in my yard for 24 Moosehead Beers per day. ;-)

Does Mrs. Stoo need any yard work done in exchange for free parking? Popping a tent in your backyard? Rummaging around in your fridge? I would offer reciprocal hospitality, but all we have is a 8 foot deep shallow pond infested with huge African Snails that people still manage to drown in. (Sadly, but it is true.)
But really, once we get dry suit certified we are coming to Tobermory, parking challenged or not!