TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

I had no idea whether I would have a chance to see Niagara or not but Dave had a great plan worked out for us.  His family was delivering our mast stands for us to pick up prior to going down the Erie Canal and they met us in Port Colborne.  We decided to go to the Falls and Dave’s daughter and wife came to pick us up.  Thank heaven for MapQuest! or we would never have found the way back to the motel they were in close to the Falls.  We left the car at the hotel and walked down the street to the falls.  It was kind of overcast and we all wore raingear and needed it.  Niagara Falls is a great ‘touristy’ place to visit and we were soon overwhelmed by all the things for kids to do with their parents.  It is just like a big amusement park!  All kinds of stuff you never saw before.
 
We resisted spending too much time at all the diversions on the way to the "Maid of the Mist" boat launch and came to a line at least a mile long.  It really wasn’t a mile long but sure seemed like it.  We could see hundreds of people below us getting onto the boats.  Everybody was given a blue raincoat and they looked like hundreds of blue bugs lining up to get on the boat to see the falls.  The Canadian side is the best to take the boat ride as the American side has collapsed in from years of erosion and boats just cannot get close to the falls.  The boat went to the Horseshoe Falls and stuck its bow very close to the cascading water which made for a spectacular effect from anywhere on the boat.  It was like a 3D movie except it was real!   You are literally in the center of the falls area with water all around you and rain pouring everywhere.  There wasn’t a dry head on that top deck of the boat.  What an experience.