October 8, 2024 - Niagara Falls - Tuesday

October 8, 2024 - Tuesday 

Port Colborne, Ontario 

Be forewarned – there are lots of photos today 

We arrived on time this morning about 7:00 am. We are at a dock here, so we don’t need to worry about tendering. Yea! 

Most of the excursions today are centered around Niagara Falls. It is only about a 45-minute bus ride to the Falls. We are scheduled to meet our bus at 2:00 pm. This is one of the “included” tours. 

As we head towards the Falls, our local guide begins to give us the history and data points necessary for this excursion. He seems knowledgeable, but unfortunately has a voice that is rather hypnotic and has both of us wanting to doze off. It isn’t his fault, his spiel is good, it is just his voice. 

We arrive at the Canadian side of the Falls and head towards the Hornblower boat ride to the base of the Falls. We have chosen our attire carefully today as we have been warned that we will get wet. In no uncertain terms, we will get wet. So, we choose items that we feel will dry quickly. And we both have on light rain jackets.

Just the drive along the river as we approached the Falls was awesome. Smooth, then into some rapids that got more and more, then just dropping out of sight into a cloud of mist.

Rapids approaching the Falls

The River dropping out of sight

American Falls to the left, Bridal Veil on the right

 

There were some sprinkles as we headed out, and the forecast was for a possibility of rain. The guide was hoping we would beat the rain to the Falls. 

It is a bit of a hike down to the boat ramp, but the boat will hold a lot of people (700 of them) Thankfully, even with the additional public passengers, we didn’t have any where near that amount. (Best guess: less than 200) Everyone is given a rain poncho as you get on the boat. They’ll help, but they are very light weight and the wind on the water made by the Falls is substantial and very squirrely.  

From below, you get a much better sense of the shear magnitude. First, we went by American Falls and Bridal Veil. Both of which land in a garden of boulders. The sun has come out and the light bouncing off the water is magnificent. We even get a rainbow. After hanging around American Falls for a few minutes, we head on over to Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the River. Oh my gosh, there is no way to describe the power of the Falls, the extremely confused water at the base, the amount of rain produced by the clouds of mist. Our feet, lower legs, hands and part of our arms were soaked. 

But WOW! WOW! WOW!

On the way down to the boat dock.

Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side

American Falls and Bridal Veil

Bridal Veil

Rainbow near American Falls

The left side of Horseshoe Falls. Just a tremendous amount of water

Right side of Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

The turbulent wates below Horseshoe Falls

Just a little wet

Horseshoe Falls

American Falls and Bridal Veil

American Falls onto the boulders

The Great Lakes hold 20% of the fresh water of the world! The great Lakes are all inter-connected. Superior is connected to Huron and Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie and the St. Mary’s River. They eventually all drain into Lake Erie which drains into the Niagara River which drains into Lake Ontario, which drains to the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean.

These photos are of the Falls running at full "Tourist" volume. Late at night and then in the winter, the water above the Falls is diverted by about 50%. This diverted water goes to reservoirs and to hydroelectric production. An added benefit to this is that it has slowed down the erosion of the Falls substantially. 

Before we know it, we are headed back to the dock. But absolutely no complaints. It was way beyond expectations. 

Something funny. On our first stop at Thunder Bay, we went to see a waterfall known as the Niagara of the North. They compare that fall to these Falls. We think they are a bit delusional. 

We continued through the region with our guide pointing out points of interest. We made a stop at a whirlpool. As the Niagara flows downriver it runs into another river, an underground river. This creates a whirlpool, which causes the river to make a 90 degree turn to the right. I’ve taken a screenshot of Google Maps of this phenomenon.

Screen shot of Google maps. Photos I took were from an
outlook about where it says Whirlpool Aero Car.

River comes in on lower right, hits other river, makes whirlpool
then turns hard right

The excess buildup of water off to the left of the whirlpool

Whirlpool

 

The last stop is at the Niagara Clock. A 40-foot diameter working clock where the face is plantings of small plants. It changes every year and is maintained by Niagara Parks. Really cool.

Then a leisurely drive back to Port Colborne. The excursion was scheduled to return to the ship by 6:00 pm. Our guide was going to make sure he utilized every minute of the allowed time. We were certainly ready to be back to the ship. We were tired and looking forward to our evening libation. I also had to get a new keycard as the one I had did not work at security when I was leaving the ship. That took about two minutes. 

That chore taken care of, I stopped by the bar on Deck 1, picked up a couple of vodkas and headed up to the room. Russ had taken our backpacks, so that I would have free hands. 

A little later, we witnessed a very nice sunset. Not as spectacular as yesterday, but very nice.

Port Colborne

 A most impressive day.