A Jet Boat Communion with Nature
This time, I'm well-prepared, wearing swim trunks, a t-shirt, sandals and accompanied by nothing else that would inevitably get soaked. A hot day, I welcome the soon-to-come baptism in sheets of Niagara's powerful white-water.
Erin, our
Jet Boat
tour leader, describes the choice of seats: "The first three rows, we call 'tsunami;' the next three, 'oh my God;' and the rear rows are regarded as the safest." My second Jet Boat ride, I find myself in row 4 awaiting a religious experience. Those in front encounter more water, but the farther it flies, the more of a punch it delivers.
Ponchos (which are useless) are optional in today's heat. PFD's are not. After one run through a wall of water, a passenger in row 3 asks to be moved backwards and Erin readily obliges.
Captain Rob feints to the left then turns hard to the right. Soon after, we disappear in huge blankets of water. The flat-bottomed Jet Boat turns on a dime and thankfully self-bales. I look down to see water up to my calves.
At Devil's Hole, the water races furiously over jagged rocks, but the passengers, now immune from fear, raise their hands and twirl their fingers, the signal for a 360 degree turn - please. Captain Rob obliges and soon we re-enact the Poseidon Adventure, as a monster wave crashes into and over us at 25 m.p.h. Wow!
We learn Niagara history and some geology. The force of the water is so great that the Falls erodes one metre every ten years. I think about those
swept over the Falls
who survived. Amazing!
Soon we speed back at 50 m.p.h., the breeze delightfully refreshing on this extremely hot day. And that's my advice. Wait for a hot day. When the temperature is cold, the return trip can resemble Napoleon's retreat from Moscow - just a tad cool!
Mike Keenan
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