Archive for March, 2009
It’s been a busy couple of months touring around Niagara, and the number of Australian’s that I’ve had the please of showing the sites has been quite astounding.
Not that those from down under don’t come to see Niagara Falls. It’s just that it seems to me based on my own tour agenda, that they have chosen the cold, snowy time of year to visit. This is of course the direct opposite of their weather at this time of year.
(click on picture to enlarge)
Although the weather is changing and spring is arriving, there is still lots of ice around the Falls. This picture of a massive icy rock below the Canadian Falls was taken March 13, 2009. But as the days get brighter, the sun shines more intense and the air turns to summer breezes, all this ice will be a distant memory.
Pretty soon we will be riding over the whirlpool in the Spanish Aerocar. It too is being overhauled. Here it is on this cold March morning all taken apart and being readied for another summer of rides.
and of course, I await visitors so I can show them the wonders of Niagara.
Well it happens every once in a while. Well actually only three times in the last 150 years or so. Someone goes over Niagara Falls without a barrel or any other contraption that “may” save their life.
It would appear that this guy wanted to take the plunge, but in the end did not drown. That in itself is absolutely amazing.
Hundreds, if not thousands of visitors to Niagara Falls watched the rescue. Some even saw him jump in about 100 yards above the Canadian Falls.
When it became obvious that the police and fire rescue people couldn’t coach him to shore below the Falls, they called in Ruedi Hafen, owner of Niagara Helicopters (who run tours of Niagara) to lend a hand. He flew into the Niagara Gorge below the Falls where things can be treacherous on a sunny calm day (and this day was extremely windy) and attempted to get the guy to grab the cable or even the helicopter pontoons. No dice.
So Ruedi tipped the chopper slightly and created waves pushing this fellow into shore. When he was close, rescuers jumped in and pulled him to safety. He’s in the hospital now being assessed. Amazing flying but also amazing is the fact that this guy went over the most powerful falls at Niagara, survived that and then for about 45 minutes stayed afloat, swimming around and keeping his rescuers at bay. All in near freezing water, surrounded by ice in the river.
Amazing. And here is what the top of the Horseshoe/Canadian Falls looked like the day before when I snapped this picture. (click on pictures to enlarge)
And here is what the river looked like over and below from the very edge.
Seems this site is having some issues being viewed with Internet Explorer. Although I test using Explorer and Firefox, I have received a few e-mails telling me that things are a little screwed up when using Internet Explorer.
I am reworking the theme to solve this, what appears to be a random problem. I would like to hear from you if you are not seeing a “nice” three column wide page. If the navigation sections on the right have moved for you, which browser are you using would be good to know.
Thanks, and in the meantime, enjoy Niagara Falls. The weather is much improved. We are above 0 celsius (32F) today with some showers. It rained heavy yesterday and that helped clean the streets of the usual winter dirt. Things are beginning to look like Spring.
Been updating the visuals on the blog. Added more pictures to the photo-gallery and began the YouTube video insertions into the blog.
You can click on the YouTube video on this page, or you can click on The Falls in Winter link and Niagara Falls a Winter Wonderland to see the latest YouTube additions.
Today I am touring – that is taking some folks on a tour. It’s -13c at the moment, but it looks like a lovely sunny day with a light wind and no snow. Should be fun.
