Canada's Thousand Islands are a scuba diver's paradise

A couple weeks back, while fishing out of Caiger's Coun try Inn in Rockport, Canada, I had the opportunity to get in on something that has really caught on in the super clear waters of the Thousand Islands -- scuba diving.

The Thousand Islands has al ways been known for its fishing and scenic beauty. However, in the last five to eight years, the sweetwater of the Thousand Islands has developed a reputation as one of the best dive destinations for scuba divers.

While the popularity of diving in the Thousand Islands really started to come into its own around the turn of the century, one of the reasons that brought about the surge started back in the 1980s and 1990s, and even earlier.

It was in those years that Zebra mussels began to infest the waters of the Saint Lawrence. The Saint Lawrence is the route ocean-going ships take from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and then on to the rest of the Great Lakes. The zebra mussels, which are sucked into the ballast tanks of the ships, got into the waters of the Saint Lawrence when the ships would expel water from their ballast tanks.

Zebra mussels are natural filters, taking in water for the nutrients and expelling clear water as a bi-product. What this has done to the waters in the Thousand Islands is make it super clear with visibility that can be as much as 20 to 40 feet or more. The visibility gives divers a look at the beauty of the under water natural rock formations, some going down 200 feet, as well as sunken ships that date back to the 1700s. ..[NJ.com]