Niagara River Drift Dive
The Buffalo area has many things that it is famous for whether it be it's chicken wings, hot sauce, bison chip dip or the Buffalo Bills losing four straight super bowls (there is a reason I am a San Francisco 49ers fan) and yes even Niagara Falls. What most people do not realize is that the Niagara River is world-famous for SCUBA Diving. The river is probably the most popular dive in the area, divers come from all over the world to dive the river, whether it be from Germany, Ukraine or even many divers from the USA travel here to dive the river.
Why is the river so popular? This is the question that many ask me all the time, well the reason is simple, you can dive the river anytime you want to. Numerous times I will be sitting at the shop and say to myself, "hey it get off of work in an hour, let's see who wants to dive the river". I call up a few people and as long as I can find someone I can go dive.
The second question people ask is always, Does the river ever get boring? The answer, NO. The reason is that no river drift scuba dive is ever the same due to the current. The current usually runs between 2-4 knots on the western part of Grand Island and with this current, there is constant change, sometimes the current drifts you farther away from the shore, sometimes it drifts you back in. There is always something new to see when diving the river.
Some things to remember when diving the river, always have a float and flag as you are in navigable waters, if diving on the western part of Grand Island you are not allowed to drift to Canada and last but not least, if you see a Lake Sturgeon you must have photo of it so people will not think you are making it up.
Happy Holidays
Alex
