Nice feedback on this thread. I have to agree that it is a nice diving environment in the St. Lawrence River. Due to the current the visibilty is good and there are no thermoclines to deal with. Most of the dive operations are on the Canadian side, but a few well established American dive operators can be found. Due to the restrictions at the border after 9/11 the dive boats can no longer freely dive where they please; for instance, If your on a Canadian boat you need to cross customs, which may take a while, then proceed to your dive site and then return through the customs to return to the Canadian side. There are only a few customs sites on the River so this may extend you travel time to get to customs then try and travel to the dive site. Some dive operators on the Canadian side will charge more for American wrecks and will leave earlier to compensate for the extra travel time. What most of us have been doing is just use the few American dive operators for wrecks in US water and Canadian Operators for their wrecks. Helps to avoid all those border crossings, such as driving across the border to get to the dive operator, then deal with customs on the boat twice just dive an American wreck (on a Canadian boat) and then deal with customs again to get back into the US after the day is over...(sigh) One of the local American operators ignored this rule when it first went into effect and almost lost his business, now he has almost no interest in Canadian wrecks. Some rumors are that a few Canadian operators are getting around the law by not using the mooring lines on the wreck and doing drift dives over the US wrecks, which they justify by stating they have never moored on US soil or property. I have never experienced this yet, but fellow divers and American operators in the St. Lawrence have been spreading this rumor.
The wrecks are preserved well in the St. Lawrence. The Canadian organization
"Save Our Shipwrecks" (SOS) are doing a nice job working to protect the shipwrecks in their waterway. A couple US charters of SOS have recently been established do the same for wrecks in US waters. Like most have said already the current and conditions for each wreck are different, which makes it more interesting. Many people get focused on the boat dives, but there are many wrecks to experience from shore dives along the St. Lawrecne too.
